A Week To Live
by lucyhoneychurch
Summary: Three unexpected conversations with family you haven’t seen in years, two visits to a fortune teller and a forbidden evening with the one man in the world you never expected yourself to end up with…These things happen when you’ve only got a week to live.
1. Chapter 1

Title: A Week To Live  
Author: Lucy Honeychurch  
Rating: PG-13 with a side of potential R-ishness (but don't worry, I'll let you all know when it's coming...)  
Disclaimer: I Own Nothing  
Spoilers: Season 5 up until 'Exposed'  
Summary: I'm basing this story on one of my favourite movies 'Life or Something Like It' although I'm trying to take as little of it as possible to avoid simply re-writing the movie and inserting Lois and Clark as the main characters...

**_Three unexpected conversations with family you haven't seen in years, two visits to a fortune teller and a forbidden evening with the one man in the world you never expected yourself to end up with…_**

These things happen when you've only got a week to live. 

**Chapter 1-Predictions**

Lois Lane rolled her eyes as her cousin made the insane suggestion as to what they were going to do with her last evening in Metropolis before she had to go back to Smallville.

"Oh come on Lois," Chloe pleaded with her. "It'll be fun."

"I do not see how going to see a fortune teller will be fun," Lois retorted.

"Haven't you ever wanted to know what's going to happen in your life?" Chloe tried again. Lois was only here for the week and tonight WAS her last night; she wanted to make it memorable and one of her friends at Met U had recommended a fortune teller if they wanted to have an entertaining evening. Chloe had thought this was an excellent idea but Lois apparently had other thoughts on the matter.

Lois sent Chloe a cynical look. "Not really. I like to enjoy the ride. Life's not interesting if you know what's around every corner. Besides, fortune tellers are in the business of selling lies, not truths. They're all fakes."

"Then what's the harm in going?" Chloe crossed her arms, countering her cousin's argument smugly. "If we're looking at this from a purely investigative perspective, you could consider this research for one of your classes. But you might actually have fun Lois, and that's something you can never have too much of. So what if it's fake? It'll be entertaining at least…"

Lois sighed in exasperation. She hated when Chloe made sense… "You really want to do this?"

Her cousin nodded.

"Fine," Lois gave in, wishing at that moment that she had stayed in Smallville for her Spring Break, despite the fact that the ever annoying Clark was there. Indeed, it was bad enough that they shared most of the same classes at Central Kansas, but an extra week in the same town would have been unbearable. They were still like oil and water and, while she had had on occasion civil conversations that had put them in the general vicinity of being friends, that didn't mean she wanted to spend a week-uninterrupted by classes with him-to spend even more time with him. Indeed, despite having moved out of the Kent's, she still worked at the Talon and moreover, she was still at the farm on a regular basis due to Martha's obsession with the importance of a home-cooked meal. On a normal basis, this worked for Lois but there was only so much small town living that Lois could put up with. When Chloe had invited her to Metropolis for the week then, she had jumped at the chance.

"Yes!" Chloe cried, breaking Lois out of her thoughts with her enthusiasm about the upcoming trip, "You're going to love this, I swear."

"You've been before?" Lois asked as they left Chloe's apartment.

"No," Chloe locked the door and headed to the elevator. "But this girl I know from my Investigative Reporting class told me about this woman down the street who is incredible. I've wanted to go for two weeks but I thought I'd wait until you were here to share in the prognostication of our fate's." She added this last bit on with a smile, intent on raising her cousin's spirits about the evening in store for them.

"I don't believe in fate," Lois said succinctly as she stepped into the elevator and pressed the button that would take them to the lobby.

"Of course you don't," Chloe rolled her eyes, knowing this was the kind of answer she was going to get from her cousin on the matter. "But aren't you the least bit curious about that internship at the Gotham Gazette you're applying for?"

"No," Lois said firmly, stepping off the elevator as the door opened. "I worked hard for it and I know Bruce Wayne personally," she made reference to the owner of all of Gotham's print news, "And I have an excellent academic record if you discount the whole Met U thing."

"Fine," Chloe said in defeat. At least SHE was going to have fun tonight… "But when this fortune teller informs you of an event in your life that's going to happen-and it does- I'm going to be right there to tell you I told you so."

And with these words hanging in the air, they exited the apartment building and started to walk down the street.

Lois turned a pointed look at Chloe, her eyes communicating her thoughts on the fortune tellers reading thus far. Chloe had been told that a big change was coming (big shocker there, Lois had thought, life was full of change…) and that in approximately two years time, she was going to meet and marry her husband. She had almost snorted with laughter at that. Wasn't that what all fortune tellers told their clients? Love was a universal subject after all…

Ultimately, Lois Lane had only been able to make one conclusion: Madame Rosalind was clearly a fake.

"…I also see a hero in your life," Madame Rosalind stared into her crystal ball (another thing that just proved to Lois what a fake she was…the crystal ball was SO cliché…) "He flies, sees through walls and can shoot fire from his eyes. I see you being saved many times by this man. In fact, he's already saved your life."

Lois snorted aloud, earning herself an annoyed look from her cousin. A hero that flies? She wanted to know why this woman wasn't writing fiction because she was wasting her creative talents with mere fortune telling.

Chloe tried to match Lois' obvious scepticism, remembering that in the world in which her cousin lived in-the one where Clark's heritage only included adoption and not retrieval in a spaceship from a farmer's field- was the one in which Clark had been trying to fit into since the day he had arrived on the planet. She knew that the fewer people who knew Clark's secret, the better.

When they had gotten to the fortune tellers, she had gone first and thus far she had come to one conclusion- her friend had been right. Madame Rosalind had been completely on track with Chloe's past and what was happening in her life at the moment. Indeed, her hero in question-Clark- had learned to fly just that past summer and, as Clark always did, had managed to save her life twice since this momentous event. Clark, apparently, was a late bloomer, having only reached his full capacity in the past six months-a full 2 years beyond where the typical Kryptonian harnessed all of their powers.

But then Clark had always been nothing if not incredibly unique.

It apparently was Lois' turn though, as Chloe watched Madame Rosalind turn towards her cousin and smile, "Now, my dear, would you care to know your future?"

"Not really," Lois murmured under her breath. She winced as her cousin's foot came down on hers. "I mean, yes. I'm quivering with anticipation."

"Right then," the fortune teller got down to business, looking to the crystal ball as if she hadn't noticed the interaction that had just gone on between Lois and Chloe. She had seen customers like these before-sceptics to the core but somehow, they all left as believers. This one, she could tell, was going to be hard to crack though.

"Well? What do you see?" Lois demanded.

Madame Rosalind shot her a look that was less than amused. "I need to examine my crystal ball first. Be patient."

"Oh right," Lois rolled her eyes. "Your crystal ball. Forgive me."

The fortune teller looked up from the aforementioned crystal ball. Somehow, she knew she was going to enjoy this reading. She always did enjoy giving bad news to sarcastic people.

"Your boyfriend's going to dump you tomorrow night," Rosalind raised an eyebrow snidely in Lois' direction.

"I don't think so," Lois smiled in Rosalind's direction. "I would know if he were going to break up with me. And we have an excellent relationship so I can tell you for a fact that we're not going anywhere."

Rosalind went on, ignoring the words Lois had spouted in her direction, "I see a visit from your sister in three days."

"Really?" Lois murmured, "Cause Lucy called me yesterday from Sweden and she didn't mention anything about hopping on a plane to Kansas anytime soon."

"Lois," Chloe said warningly, "Could you please be nice? Maybe participate a bit more? You're embarrassing me…"

Lois sighed. She didn't want to be here but Chloe apparently did and so she'd play along. "Alright then. I have a question that maybe you could answer with that crystal ball of yours."

"I'll try my best," Rosalind smiled in Lois' direction, although she didn't mean it.

"Well," Lois drew a breath, exchanging a look with Chloe and continuing, "I'm up for this internship with the Gotham Gazette and I was just wondering if you can see anything about me getting it."

Madame Rosalind nodded her head and resumed her search in the crystal ball. She paused though, having seen something there she was unsure about. She suddenly felt sorry for the sarcastic woman she was reading.

"What?" Lois asked, confused at Rosalind's hesitations and the suddenly apprehensive look that had fallen on the fortune teller's face.

"Give me your hand dear," the prognosticator in front of her demanded, taking the hand that Lois hesitantly gave her and sighing as the lines on her palm backed up what she had seen in the crystal ball. "No good…." She looked up from Lois's hand and gave her a sympathetic look. "I think I need to give you your money back."

Lois turned a confused look at Chloe. Just what kind of person had Chloe's friend said she was? "Why?"

Rosalind shook her head, dropping the hand and leaning forward at the table. "Because it's a wasted reading."

"And how do you figure that?" Lois demanded, suddenly indignant that the fake in front of her wasn't going to grace her with a pack of lies the way her cousin had been presented. "Do I not have a future, or is it so bleak that you can't share it with me? And you didn't answer my question. Am I going to get the internship or not?"

Rosalind met her eyes, "You're not," she paused, not sure how to present the next part of what she had seen about the rude young woman sitting across from her at the table.

"And you wanted to give me my money back because of that?" Lois dead-panned.

"No," Rosalind moved on, sighing as she decided to just get it over with.

"Than why?" Lois' voice got louder.

"Because you're going to die in a week," Madame Rosalind finished sadly. "And there's nothing you can do to stop it."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Denial**

"Nothing I can do to stop it, my ass," Lois muttered to herself in an enraged voice as she entered the Talon the next morning, having gotten up early to drive back to Smallville. Despite how much she told herself that the encounter with the fortune teller hadn't bothered her, it had. She had found herself unable to sleep as completely insane thoughts raced through her head-like whether or not the fortune teller had actually been telling the truth and she was going to die six days from now. In the end, she had tossed and turned until 3 AM, fallen asleep for 3 hours and then decided to head back to Smallville.

"Lois," Martha greeted her warmly, a tray of coffee in her hands. "I thought you weren't getting back until this afternoon."

"Something came up and I decided to come back early," Lois pasted a smile on her face, although she didn't feel it at all. She had been feeling uncharacteristically numb ever since the moment Madame Rosalind had reimbursed her money and sent her and Chloe on their way. If she were to fully examine this numbness, she would find that the very fact that the fortune teller had reimbursed her money made her all the more credible which, given what she had told her, was a very bad thing. Lois took comfort in the fact that Chloe had seemed as sceptical as she was; having pointed out the night before that all it would take is either Lucy not showing up in Smallville or Lois' boyfriend, Jeffrey, not breaking up with her tonight to prove Madame Rosalind wrong.

"Oh," Martha returned the smile, "Well it's good to have you back. Are you coming out to the farm for dinner tonight?"

"Thanks Martha," Lois apologized, "But I've got a date with Jeffrey."

"Alright," Martha smiled, "Tomorrow night then?"

"Yeah," Lois nodded her head affirmatively. "Tomorrow night would be good." She watched as Martha took the coffee tray she held in her hands to the table it belonged to, thus leaving Lois relatively alone with her thoughts.

Not that that was a good thing.

She sighed, beginning the trek up the stairs to her apartment. She unlocked the door, leaving it open as she dragged her bag into the space and slung it onto the kitchen table before moving to her bedroom. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this world weary and she had a feeling that a nap wouldn't be uncalled for at this point.

"Lois?" A very familiar voice called into the apartment from the open door.

"Great," Lois rolled her eyes, muttering. "This is just what I need…." She turned, pasting a smile on her face. "Hey Clark."

"Hi Lois," Clark returned the smile. "Mom told me you were back."

"Wonderful," she said sarcastically, brushing past him to open the bag that she had thrown on her kitchen table. Looks like the nap she had felt compelled to take mere moments ago was going to have to wait. "Is there a point to this social call or did you just come up here to bother me?"

The smile dropped from Clark's face. So much for being nice…"Chloe called me. She told me to get over here because you weren't yourself this morning and she thought it had something to do with last night. So my question is: what happened last night Lois?"

"Nothing Smallville," Lois drawled as she took a stack of schoolbooks out of her bag and sat them on the table before picking up the bag and taking it into her bedroom.

"Lois," Clark said warningly as he followed her. "Chloe was really worried. You can save both of us a lot of trouble if you just tell me what happened."

"How about no?" Lois said sarcastically, taking two pairs of heels and a pair of running shoes out of the bag and putting them in her closet.

Clark sighed, sitting down on the bed. He didn't want to be here, Lois didn't want him to be here but Chloe had sounded really worried. The things he did for his friends…"I'm not leaving until you tell me," he changed tactics, deciding that if he was going to be helping Chloe in this way that he should derive at least a little fun out of the experience and annoying Lois was always a joy.

Lois shot him an annoyed look and Clark congratulated himself on a job well done thus far.

"Come on Lois," he tried again. "It's me. Whatever it is, I'll keep quiet about it. I swear."

Lois met Clark's eyes, watching as the hint of teasing banter mixed with a seriousness that Lois had come to expect from Clark Kent over the years. Despite how much they might hate each other-or pretend to hate each other-she knew she could trust him.

"You promise not to tell anyone?" She crossed her arms, the bag that needed to be unpacked in front of her fading into the background as she let the events of last night engulf her again.

"I promise," Clark said seriously.

She sighed, coming around the side of the bed and sitting down next to him. "Alright. So last night Chloe and I went to see a fortune teller."

"A fortune teller? You think they're all fakes though…." Clark furrowed an eyebrow in confusion. "Why would Chloe drag you to one of those?"

"Exactly!" Lois agreed with him. "But she wanted to go so I did."

"And what did she have to tell you?" A smile grew on Clark's face. He didn't put much stock in fortune teller's either simply because he knew first hand how fickle 'fate' was. No one had needed to tell him that he and Lana had been fated to be together in high school-or so he thought, until they had broken up a year after the relationship had begun. Fate to a teenage boy apparently extended only as far as high school because as soon as the summer had ended and they had left behind the trappings of the adolescent institution, they had begun to grow apart.

She was now dating some guy at Met U she had met in one of her art classes. This subject only depressed him though as he himself had yet to begin dating again, his 'uniqueness' making it difficult for him to open up, and so he chose to move back to Lois' problems which always seemed less complicated than his.

Lois shrugged, "Well Chloe went first. I don't remember much of it…something about a hero that flies saving her or something like that. You see what I mean about fortune tellers though? Fakes, every one of them. Flying is a physical impossibility for lone humans who don't have wings or some other accoutrements necessary to flying so I really don't see how this could be true at all. Anyways…."

Clark's eyes widened slightly. How had this fortune teller known that he could fly? Only five people in the world knew about that, two of which he called his best friends, another worked for the Swann Institute and the last two were, of course, his parents.

Lois continued, not noticing the inwardly searching look that Clark was directing at no one in particular. "So then it was my turn and you know what she told me?" She didn't wait for Clark to answer affirmatively as she continued. "Jeffrey's breaking up with me tonight apparently and Lucy's going to be here in three days. Two now, I guess."

"But I thought Lucy was in Sweden…" Clark asked inquisitively. "And Jeffrey and you….are you sure she said you were going to break up? You looked pretty tight the last time I saw you two at the Talon…"

"She is," Lois said, "And I know. It's crazy. Jeffrey and I are so together it's insane. I mean, I can't see myself marrying the guy but for the moment, I'm enjoying him and I think he's enjoying me."

"So, what about those predictions made you so upset then?" Clark continued their conversation.

"OH!" Lois shook herself out of her thoughts of Jeffrey and back to the matter at hand. "She told me that I wasn't going to get the Gotham Gazette internship for next year because in exactly one week I was going to die and there was nothing I could do to stop it."

A silence fell over the room as she waited for Clark to absorb this news. She knew that she had needed the moment. So had Chloe for that matter…

"You're not going to get the internship?" Clark dead-panned eventually, breaking the silence.

"Smallville!" she punched him in the arm in mock rage at his callous treatment of her situation. "Why do I even bother talking to you!" She got up from the bed in a huff.

"I'm sorry," Clark chuckled. "I couldn't resist. Lois, you can't actually believe that you're going to die in a week, do you?"

"No," Lois shook her head negatively. "But I guess it scares me, you know? I mean, I've done so much to change where I was going in the last three years. I'm going to University, I'm going to be a journalist if all goes well, and I even have direction now."

"Lois," Clark patted the spot on the bed that she had just vacated. "You're not going to die."

Lois shook her head, going back to unpacking, "We'll see, won't we? If a guy who can fly happens to save Chloe in the next few days, we'll know for sure anyways. Not that that's likely…"

"Yeah," Clark suddenly felt the urge to call Chloe now that he had the full story on Lois. "I'll see you later than?" He stood up.

"Nope," she said negatively, not surprised or bothered in the least at Clark's abrupt departure. This, she had found after years of first living with the Kent's and then being in close contact on a daily basis with Clark, was normal for him. "Jeffrey's coming over tonight for dinner so I won't be available. I'm going out to the farm tomorrow night though."

"Until tomorrow night then," Clark smiled. "Try not to do break up with that boyfriend of yours tonight though, alright? As annoying as I might find you, dying isn't exactly something I'd like to see happen to you anytime soon."

"Thanks," Lois smiled back, furrowing her brow as she replayed Clark's words in her head. "I think…"

She watched as Clark left the apartment, shutting the door behind him. She walked over to her closet and searched until she found the dress she was looking for. There was no way Jeffrey was going to be breaking up with her tonight...

Too much was at stake for her to let that happen.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Anger**

"You're breaking up with me!" Lois exclaimed, enraged.

It had been a fun evening, she had thought. They had had dinner and granted, Jeffrey had been distant but then he had perked up a bit, putting her at ease. Lois felt the rage grow as she thought of why.

Apparently even breaking up could be put off in favour of sex.

She had pulled out all the stops for Jeffrey tonight in an effort to defy Madame Rosalind's depressing prediction. She had worn her sexiest dress and made him the best meal she was capable of. After having had Martha Kent teach her to cook that summer, Lois could now compete with the Martha herself-although if given the choice, she still preferred to have someone else cook for her.

It had all seemed perfect until just a moment ago when, after what Lois had considered to be fairly good sex, Jeffrey had rolled out of the bed, grabbed his boxers, put them on-and promptly told her he wanted to break up. He said he felt restricted in the relationship-Lois was too assertive, too domineering.

"Lois," he said gently, sitting back down on the bed. "It's just not working out. You're drowning me, and I'm holding you back. You and I both know that."

Lois rolled out of the bed, wrapping the bed sheet around herself tightly and stepping around the bed. She picked up the clothes that Jeffrey had sat neatly in a pile when he undressed an hour ago.

"Lois?" Jeffrey shot her a nervous look, "What are you doing?"

She smiled at him, sarcasm dripping from its edges as she walked over to the open window of her bedroom, dangling his clothes over the ledge and dropping them onto Main St. "Showing you just how assertive I can be," she walked across the room, entering the kitchen and yanking open the front door. "Now get the hell out of my apartment."

Jeffrey didn't say a word, jaw ticking in anger as he grabbed his shoes and left.

Lois watched from the kitchen window as he picked up his clothes from Main St, pedestrians stopping to point and laugh at the half-dressed man. She watched as he finished, putting his socks and shoes on before glaring back at the open window that she was watching him from.

She turned, still angry but feeling distinctly lost as the prediction that she had been thinking about the whole evening suddenly shot to the forefront of her mind.

She was going to die in a week. No, she bitterly thought. Make that 5 days. Tears sprung to her eyes as the events of the last two days surrounded and tormented her. Jeffrey had broken up with her- a man who she had REALLY liked but had found her unsatisfactory, and to put the icing on the cake, she was going to die.

"Lois?" Clark's voice came from the doorway.

"Clark!" Lois sniffed back tears as Clark unexpectedly entered the apartment. "What are you doing here?"

"Mary was supposed to close tonight but she called in sick. Mom asked me to come down and do it because she knew you were busy," Clark murmured speaking of one of the Talon's employees and taking in the dirty dishes in the sink, the half-eaten meal on the table and the fact that Lois was currently wearing only a bed sheet. Pieces of the puzzle that was Lois Lane-at least tonight-began to fall into place. "Was that Jeffrey I saw leaving here half naked a moment ago?"

Lois nodded her head, trying to hold back the tears of emotional pain that she had until a moment ago been perfectly willing to shed. She couldn't cry in front of Clark though. It was too embarrassing, "Yeah. That was him."

"What'd he do to make you so angry?" Clark slanted a grin in her direction. "Did he break up with you or something?" The grin faded though, as he watched Lois's face begin to crumple in tears, "Oh God. He did, didn't he?"

"Um-hm," Lois lost the battle with herself and broke down into tears. To hell with her pride. What did she care anyways? She was going to die in five days and she didn't' think Clark would think any less of her if she cried now. Not that it made a difference anyways. "I made him dinner, we talked, and I should have known! He was way too quiet tonight. And then…."

"You slept with him, didn't you?" Clark stated quietly, getting angrier by the moment. Lois didn't deserve this kind of treatment.

"Well yeah!" Lois wailed, wiping her eyes with a corner of the bed sheet. "I wanted to make sure that he didn't break up with me tonight because of what the fortune teller said and now…" She walked the short distance into her living room and sitting down on the couch, grabbing a tissue from the coffee table and blowing her nose. "Clark, I'm going to die!" A sob escaped her sloppily, a weird and slightly embarrassing sound that Clark was extremely concerned about. Lois didn't cry. She just didn't. The fact that she was doing so now, breaking down so completely that she wasn't even trying to hide it-in front of him no less-made him sit down next to her on the couch and draw her into his arms in an effort to comfort her. Martha and Jonathon Kent had not raised him to ignore someone in need of help and Lois clearly was in need of that now.

"Lois, he's just a guy. You're not going to die. He just broke up with you," Clark tried to calm her down, letting her lean her head onto his chest. And if she was anything like Chloe or Lana, Clark would need to change his shirt before the evening was through.

"I know that!" she continued to cry, only this time, into his chest. "I feel so dirty. After…he just….rolled over, put his boxers on and announced that we should break up."

"Just say the word Lois," Clark, who had been listening to Lois cry, pursed his lips in anger. He and Lois didn't like each other-that much was true, but he liked to think that it was more of a love-hate relationship. They had settled into an easy quasi-friendship over the years and it was for that reason that the inexplicable anger that he felt suddenly well up in his chest at her story was justifiable. It had nothing to do with how lost Lois looked, and how much he suddenly wanted to protect her. He continued, not knowing where these last thoughts had come from, "He can conveniently come down with a case of black eye tomorrow and I guarantee that he won't bother you again."

A burst of laughter escaped from Lois, interrupting the crying at least for a moment. "I love when you go all older brother on me Clark, but I can fight my own battles. It's not like Jeffrey and I weren't sleeping together to begin with…"

"Yeah, but to break up with you like that," Clark argued angrily. "That's horrible. No guy should be allowed to get away with treating a girl like that."

Lois sat up, now laughing harder, "We've got to get you some male friends, Smallville. You're starting to sound like a girl."

"Well it's true Lois," Clark continued. "And as for this prediction that you're so concerned about, it's not going to happen."

"And how do you know that?" Lois demanded, tears subsiding a bit in favour of a good argument with Clark. These ALWAYS put her in a good mood. "Madame Rosalind was right; Jeffrey DID break up with me tonight. All I need to do now if wait for Lucy to arrive in town and I'm as good as six feet under."

Clark shot her a chastising look, "Don't be melodramatic Lois. It's not going to happen."

"Yes but, how do you know that?" Lois crossed her arms across her chest.

He shrugged, "I just do. Now get dressed. You're coming back to the farm with me tonight."

"Why?" Lois asked, confused.

Clark looked at her as if she were crazy. "You honestly think that if my Mom had been the one to have caught you throwing Jeffrey's clothes onto Main St. because he broke up with you, that she would have let you be alone tonight? Now look at it from my perspective: since you DID do that-however much I agree with it-if you don't come back to the farm, Mom's going to know and then I'll get in trouble for not being supportive enough."

"And how would she find out?" Lois asked, staring Clark down from her sitting position on the couch.

Clark sent her another incredulous look, "It's Smallville, Lois. Everyone knows everyone else's business here. Trust me on this. She'll know."

"Sorry," Lois responded defensively. "Forget I asked." She stood up. "What if I don't want to go to the farm tonight?"

Clark shrugged, bracing himself for an evening on Lois' uncomfortable couch, "If you're tired, then I guess I'd just have to stay here."

She sighed, weighing her options. She didn't want to be alone with her thoughts tonight though, and this is what eventually broke down her resolve to be strong. For one evening, she could afford to let someone else be strong for her.

Besides all that, she knew for a fact that her couch was uncomfortable to sleep on. Clark was being too nice to subject him to that.

"Alright Smallville. You're on. Just let me get showered and changed and we can go," she made a decision, looking regal in only her white bed sheet as she crossed the apartment, entering the bedroom and closing the door firmly behind her.

Clark sighed as he waited patiently. Lois was right. He DID need more guy friends. Just last month, he had had to do the same thing he was doing with Lois tonight as he had with Chloe, who had been getting over a bad break-up. Ever the good friend, he had gone to Metropolis, armed with a tub of Chloe's favourite ice cream and a copy of Casablanca. In the end, he had watched as the petite blonde had finished the ice cream on her own- her self-proclaimed break up food of choice.

Ten minutes later, Lois stepped out of her bedroom. "Okay I'm ready. What's on the agenda tonight then?"

Clark cleared his throat uncomfortably, having thought about this as Lois had gotten ready. This was NOT how he wanted to be spending his evening. "Well, you said it yourself, I need more guy friends. I know for a fact that Mom's got an un-opened tub of chocolate ice cream in the freezer and a copy of 'When Harry Met Sally' in our living room."

Lois fell silent, looking at Clark as if he'd grown two heads.

"What?" he said hesitantly. This worked for Chloe…why not for Lois?

"You have many layers, you know that, right?" Lois said, walking over to where she kept her shoes and slipping on her sandals.

"What do you mean by that?" Clark furrowed his brow, following her.

"I mean, that you're either gay and still in the closet-which I know for a fact that you aren't because of your Lana obsession and the subsequent months of Clana kissage Chloe and I were subjected to- and can I just say for the record how gross that was," Lois stepped out the door and motioned for Clark to follow her. "Or you're just a nice guy. The problem with that option is that I know for a fact what a jerk you can be."

"And what does that have to do with anything?" Clark was still confused as he followed Lois out of the Talon and locked the door behind them.

"It doesn't," Lois sighed, looking him in the eye as she got into the Kent's truck. "Just making an observation in the hopes that we'll start fighting and I'll get my mind off things."

Clark snorted in laughter. He should have known. He tended to do the same after he had had a hard day and Lois happened to be around. Chloe had once told them how weird this was but Lois and Clark didn't seem to see anything wrong with it.

"I see. Well," he went around the side of the truck and got in. "for the record, and in defence of my own sexuality, I'm not gay, just seasoned in dealing with Chloe's break-ups in the past two years. Mom happened to have bought chocolate ice cream today and I happen to like 'When Harry Met Sally.' It's one of the only chick flicks I can stand and it's one of my Mom's favourite movies."

"Ever the Mama's boy," Lois teased purposely. Secretly, she thought it was cute but Clark didn't have to know that. She WAS trying to get her mind off things after all and she HAD stated her intention to pick a fight to Clark. He was prepared for it so she was bringing out the big guns.

"Lois," Clark said warningly, starting the truck and pulling onto Main St.

"Yeah Smallville?" she turned her head to look at him.

"I know what you're doing," he murmured with a smile on his face. "And it's not going to work."

"Really?" Lois smirked. "Well we'll see about that, won't we Clarkie?"

"Lois?"

"Yeah Smallville?"

"Shut up."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The Call**

It was the sunlight on her face that woke Lois up the next morning. She rolled over, opening her eyes and staring up at the familiar ceiling. Sitting up, she got out of the bed and stretched as she took in her surroundings. She was in Clark's bedroom, the owner of the room apparently having taken her upstairs after their impromptu movie night that she had fallen asleep in the middle of.

She sighed, the reason why she was here in the first place coming back to her. Jeffrey had broken up with her and what's more, this experience had yet again fallen into the category of things that Madame Rosalind had told her would happen.

This led her to one of many ever changing conclusions that had been racing through her brain since she had exited the fortune teller's place of business two days ago: there was still the possibility that she wasn't going to die.

Maybe it had been the evening of meaningless talk, or the vast amount of chocolate ice cream that Clark had indulged her in the evening before, or maybe it was the bright sunny day that had cheerily woken her this morning but Lois found herself feeling strangely upbeat. After all, if the fortune teller was correct in her prediction, then she should have received a call from Lucy by know or, at the very least, from the General, informing her that Lucy was coming to Smallville.

She looked at Clark's alarm clock sitting on the bedside table. It was 10:30 AM and Lucy had never shown up in Smallville without at least 48 hours notice, thereby making it impossible for Madame Rosalind's prediction to be true because she was clearly wrong about Lucy coming to visiting her.

She smiled broadly, and slipped on the bunny slippers that she had put into her bag the evening before in preparation for the movie night she and Clark had had, a new bounce in her step.

She was going to live.

"Good morning, Lois," Martha Kent said with a smile, looking up from her coffee as Lois entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, Martha," Lois readily accepted the hug that Clark's mother gave her.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Martha asked sympathetically, "Clark told us what happened."

Lois shrugged, masking the pain that she now felt. At the time, she had been more concerned by the fact that, in dumping her, Jeffrey had as good as put the final nail in her coffin but now, distanced by 14 hours, a litre of chocolate ice cream, a viewing of 'When Harry Met Sally' and a lack of communication from her supposedly visiting sister, had replaced this fear with other emotions. Lois Lane, people who didn't know her well would be surprised to note, had extremely deep-rooted abandonment issues. She could do the leaving, but when someone else did it to her, another piece of the fragile wall she was constantly erecting around herself fell down.

And Jeffrey, it felt, had taken an entire side of it down when she had forced him to leave her apartment last night.

"I'm alright," she sighed, looking Martha in the eye as she said it to reassure the woman who had become the closest thing she had had to a mother since her own mother had died.

Martha met Lois' eyes, trying to discern if she was telling her the truth or not. Feeling relatively satisfied, she sighed, looking away and going to the coffee maker, pouring Lois a mug before fixing it the way that she liked and bringing it over to her as the younger woman sat down at the table. "What are you hungry for this morning? Bacon and eggs? Pancakes?"

Lois took a sip of her coffee, meeting Martha searching eyes and knowing that it would do no good to say no to what she was offering. Martha Kent, she had learned in the year or so she had lived on the Kent farm, was a big believer of the healing power of breakfast… "Bacon and eggs would be great actually."

Martha nodded, setting to making Lois' food at the stove, "So how was the movie last night?"

"Good," Lois sighed, remembering how Clark had sat her down in front of the television, handing her a tub of ice cream and a large mug of hot chocolate-something she only had at the Kent's- and proceeded to completely make her forget her horrible evening with delightfully meaningless conversation and a healthy dose of Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal.

Martha simply smiled at Lois as she cracked some eggs into a bowl and added milk, whisking the mixture thoroughly and pouring it into the frying pan. "Clark took care of you then?"

Lois nodded, taking another sip of her coffee, "Yep. He was going to sleep on my couch if I didn't come out to the farm with him last night because he was afraid of what you would do to him if you found out I had been left to spend the night alone after what happened with Jeffrey…"

Martha laughed at this, using the spatula to shift the scrambled eggs in the pan.

"Did I just hear someone complaining about me?" Clark's voice suddenly came from the doorway into the kitchen as he entered, moving to the sink to wash the remnants of his morning work off his hands.

"Lois was just telling me about what how you got her to come out here last night," Martha said, arching an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic behaviour Clark had displayed last night. Her son had only ever come to Chloe's rescue when it came to shoulder's to cry on. To suddenly do this for Lois was something she hadn't expected. But then again Lois, from what Clark had told her and Jonathon that morning, had been dumped in a rather harsh manner.

His son and Lois had become closer since he had broken up with Lana, and Chloe had moved to Metropolis for school. That sort of thing tended to happen when friends became estranged through emotional and physical distance and it wasn't as if Clark had ever been especially inclined to make lasting friends because of constantly having to keep his secret from them. Lois had been the exception to the rule though, and for the past two years, she and Jonathon had watched as their son had sustained a friendship with Lois and not once felt awkward about the fact that he wasn't telling her his secret. Lois, it appeared, appreciated Clark for what he was-strange behaviour included-and didn't ask questions. Neither Chloe or Pete had been able to do that as they had gotten older but Lois, somehow had and in many ways, she and Clark's friendship was stronger for it.

Clark shrugged sheepishly, watching as his mother finished with the eggs and emptied them onto a large plate before starting on the bacon. "Just looking out for you Lois. You and Chloe didn't let ME wallow when Lana and I broke up and I thought I'd return the favour…"

"That was over two years ago," Lois raised an eyebrow in Clark's direction, shaking her head teasingly, "And you still haven't gotten back on the horse. What does this say about the state of our interventions then?"

Clark slanted a grin in her direction, "Well, Chloe certainly seems to have survived my 'interventions' as you phrased them with few side-effects."

Lois snorted sarcastically, "Right. Because serial dating is so normal. We need to find her someone solid, dependable…and less likely to cheat on her."

"Well, she told me on the phone yesterday that that fortune teller you and she went to see told her that she'd meet and marry her future husband in two years. That's something at least," Clark said, watching as his mother flipped the bacon and tried to hide a smile. He rolled his eyes, used to the looks he received from his mother whenever he did anything nice for Lois. Indeed, she was convinced that, if they were to give it a chance that something would come of a relationship between the two of them. Clark didn't believe this at all. Lois was a good friend and she WAS attractive, although Clark generally pretended not to notice this about her as it tended to confuse his emotions. The fact of the matter was that they were like oil and water and what's more, most of the time spent with each other consisted of arguing with the other about completely stupid things. Not exactly the basis for a good relationship…

He was broken out of his thoughts as the clink of Lois' breakfast plate hit the table softly, accompanied by a glass of cranberry juice-her favourite- and a bottle of cayenne pepper that she liberally sprinkled on her eggs.

Lois, he had found, liked her food spicy.

Lois rolled her eyes, taking a bite of her eggs, "Don't get me started on the subject of that fortune teller, Smallville. She's a fraud."

"So you don't think you're going to die anymore then?" Clark said teasingly, "Choosing to ignore her sage predictions?"

Lois merely shot an annoyed look at Clark before returning her attention back to her breakfast. "She's a fraud and now I have proof."

"Really?" Martha jumped into the conversation at this point, having heard all about what the fortune teller had told both Chloe and Lois when Chloe had phoned the house to talk to Clark yesterday. Clark had been out at the time but Chloe, concerned about Lois, hadn't felt any kind of guilt in letting the Kent's know about Lois' current state of mind and the possibility-albeit small-that Lois was, in fact, going to die in a week.

"Um-hm," Lois mumbled happily from a mouthful of bacon and eggs. She swallowed, taking a sip of her juice before continuing. "Yes, she successfully predicted that Jeffrey was going to break up with me but she failed to put into account one thing with her prediction about Lucy and for that reason, I can prove that she's a fraud."

"And what's that?" Martha sat down at the table with a fresh mug of coffee for herself.

Lois looked between Martha and Clark pointedly, "Lucy always calls before she comes to visit me. Either her, or the General ALWAYS calls 48 hours in advance of her showing up. If it's just Daddy who's coming, then he'll just show up but Lucy has to make a production out of it and that includes a pre-show. I ALWAYS get a call and, as of this morning, the 48 hour point passed. I can conclusively say that…." She was interrupted as her cell phone rang.

"Excuse me," she smiled apologetically to Martha and Clark as she answered it, growing slightly pale as she listened to the voice on the other end. "Uh-huh," she murmured, pausing as she listened. "Uh-huh. Okay."

She shut the phone off, looking numb.

"Who was it?" Clark asked after a moment during which Lois had simply sat at the table, unmoving and emotionless.

Lois sighed, meeting Clark's eyes blankly. "That was Lucy. She's coming to Smallville."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Bargaining**

Clark took a deep breath as he stopped the truck, letting it out as he looked at Lois worriedly, "Are you sure you don't want company for this?"

Lois shook her head, not meeting his eyes, "No I think I can handle getting a prediction out of her on my own."

"It's alright to admit that you need help Lois," Clark murmured, remembering Lois's face the moment after she had gotten off the phone with her sister-the muted defeat that had quickly been masked by determination.

Lois closed her eyes and drew a short breath, annoyance at the caring words that Clark was currently sending her flooding her. She was not in the mood for this- not only did she have to deal with her sister coming to town, but she was desperately trying to hold onto the shred of dignity that she had left; she would not cry about this because, until she had one last piece of proof shattered, she was not going to admit defeat. She inwardly cursed Martha Kent for caring enough to make Clark drive her up to Metropolis-not only pick up Lucy at the airport the next morning, but to take her to the fortune tellers. Thus far, he had only succeeded in annoying the hell out of her and this, Lois was loath to admit, was probably what was keeping her from breaking down completely.

Considering the circumstances, she didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Look Smallville," she said through clenched teeth as she finally looked at him. "This is something I have to do alone, so deal with it. Kill your inner boy scout just this once, alright?"

Clark glowered at her, "Funny Lois."

"I'm glad you finally noticed," she smirked, opening the truck door and stepping out, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a fortune teller to interrogate."

She shut the door, cutting off anything else that Clark might have tried to say to her in favour of the loud city sounds of Metropolis, bracing herself for a fight. Madame Rosalind was going to be sorry she had ever informed Lois Lane that she was going to die.

"You're back then," Madame Rosalind chuckled. "I knew you would be."

"Did you see that in your crystal ball?" Lois retorted sarcastically as she threw herself down into one of the plush chairs across the table from the fortune teller.

"No," Rosalind smirked, "I expected you back because I know customers like you. They get a prediction, it comes true-and it ALWAYS comes true, I've never been wrong- and then they come back to me for more in order to prove that the second, mostly negative thing that I've predicted will come true through the falsification of a new prediction. After all, if I get one wrong, it means I'm a fake, correct?"

She paused, taking in the silence of the woman in front of her and a chuckle left her body. This always happened. "I might be eccentric," she continued, "But I'm not stupid."

Lois suddenly found her voice, not willing to let the fraud of a fortune teller push her around like this, "Whatever, just tell me what I need to do to get the death curse taken off me."

Rosalind raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms. "Up to bargaining already then?"

"Bargaining?"

The fortune teller sat back in her chair, uncrossing her arms and ticking off her fingers as she spoke her next words, "Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance-the five stages of grief…you're going through them pretty fast, but you don't have much time so maybe that's a good thing…what do you have now? About four days left?"

"Does it matter!" Lois exploded, frustrated as she ran a hand through her hair.

Rosalind shrugged her shoulders, "Just trying to make conversation. What kind of prediction shall I give you to prove that I'm a fake then? More revelations into your love life, or lack thereof? I'm assuming the boyfriend broke up with you otherwise you wouldn't be here…"

"Yeah he did," Lois pursed her lips impatiently, "Can we get on with this?" she shoved a $20 dollar bill across the table.

"Certainly," the fortune teller took the money, shoving it into her pocket before consulting her crystal ball. The ball itself was just for show. The customers-present company excepted anyways-liked when she got 'authentic' with her trade. The truth of the matter was that the glimpses of the future came at her from all directions and for seemingly no reason, making the ball merely a prop.

She furrowed her brow as she got a glimpse of something familiar. Indeed, had she continued the original reading of the woman sitting across the table from her, she could have told her many things about the man in this vision. After all, he tended to show up in a lot of the citizens of Metropolis' futures although certainly looking different than he did in this particular vision…"OK," she continued, looking Lois in the eye. "The man who flies-the one you were so skeptical about-will save you life tonight."

Lois looked at her as if she was insane, making Rosalind inwardly start to laugh. If she only knew who the man in question was…

"So," Lois put her hands in her lap and leaned forward, "This man's just going to fly me out of a life threatening situation? When?"

"Times cost more," Rosalind smiled pointedly. "As for the man, it's more like run in front of you, block a bullet and then fly you out of it."

Lois rolled her eyes in bewilderment. She could not believe she was doing this. She reached into her pocket and pulled out another $20, passing it across the table.

The fortune teller picked up the $20, putting it in her pocket with the other $20, "10:30 PM. Sharp."

"OK then," Lois stood up, sighing and looking at her watch. It was 8:30 now so she would know for sure if she was going to be 6 feet under in four days time in only a few hours. With all luck, she would be able to meet Lucy at the airport tomorrow morning with a clear head and the knowledge that she no longer knew when she was going to die. "Nice doing business with you."

And with that, she turned and left the fortune teller's shop, a new bounce in her step. The fact of the matter was that she KNEW that humans couldn't fly, let alone block a bullet with their bare bodies and this meant that a celebration was in order.

She was going to live.

Clark watched as Lois threw back her third shot in as many minutes, "Don't you think you should slow down? We've got all night…"

Lois simply glared at Clark, motioning to the bar tender to bring her another.

"Lois," he tried again, this time more firmly, "I think you should…"

She sighed, shooting him an exasperated look, "Clark, shut up. You're in no position to tell me to slow down. I'm going to die in four days. I think I'm entitled to get a little drunk."

Clark looked at her incredulously, "A little drunk? From the way you've been throwing those shots back, I'd say you're going for a LOT drunk."

She shrugged, "Does it matter?"

Clark watched as she checked around to see if anyone was listening to them in the noisy bar they had randomly stepped into and froze as she leaned closer to him in a mock impression of an amorous and tipsy girlfriend.

"I didn't ask you to save me," she murmured huskily, leaning back on her chair and taking in the slightly regretful look on Clark's face that was quickly turning to anger, just as she had planned.

He blew out a breath in frustrated anger at her words, "You just wanted me to let that guy shoot you for your wallet then? Did you feel like dying tonight Lois?"

"At least it would have been on my own terms…" Lois nodded to the bartender, who had just sat another shot of tequila in front of her. With a sigh, she picked it up and downed it like it was water.

"Lois…"

"No Clark," Lois stood up, closing her eyes as she felt the alcohol finally begin to affect her, "I don't want to hear it," she murmured, wanting to kick herself as a hurt look made an appearance on Clark's face.

"Look," she took a breath, now apologetic as she leaned forward as she had done before to speak directly in his ear-the better to keep the secret she had learned about him tonight from the patrons of the busy bar.

The fact that he smelt fabulous was merely a perk to this position but that was just the tequila talking, she was sure…

"This is not about you. I don't care that you're an alien and I don't care that you have special powers-one of which is flying, which, by the way, should be impossible. You're still Clark Kent, annoying farm boy and bane of my existence." She leaned even more forward, resting her cheek against his in a mock-affectionate manner, loving how he froze at her action. She loved putting him off-balance and tonight, feeling her own mortality, she was pushing it to the limit and loving it. She sighed, purposely directing her breath against his ear, "But you being you has now forced me to believe the impossible: I'm going to die in four days and now I have to deal with it."

She abruptly straightened up, grabbing her jacket from the back of the bar stool and laying money on the bar to cover her tab.

Clark gulped, feeling himself unfreeze as she backed away from him to pay for her drinks. Lois was behaving strangely tonight and he didn't know how to react it. Well, that wasn't true. Lot's of women had come onto him in the past few years, especially when he went to bars and he always politely refused them and had never regretted doing so. Lois on the other hand, he didn't know how to react to. He wasn't even sure if whatever she had been doing to him over the past few minutes had been real or whether she had just been trying to get into a position where no one would overhear his secret. He watched as she slipped on her jacket and started to walk away from the bar…

"Where are you going?" he asked, grabbing his own jacket and following her. He caught up to her outside the bar, grabbing her arm to stop her rapid pace down the street.

Lois turned, shrugging to remove Clark's arm from her own, "If I'm going to get drunk tonight-and I am, despite any arguments you might have about it Smallville- I'm going to do it at a club and not at a bar with a bad dance floor and even worse music."

He watched as she took out her purse, taking out her cell phone and dialing a number before putting it to her ear and turning away from him. He tried to tune out the phone conversation from his enhanced sense of hearing, instead choosing to concentrate on the night's events thus far.

Lois had come out of Madame Rosalind's looking triumphant and touting the wonders of insane fortune tellers. Afraid of jinxing herself though, she had refused to tell Clark anything concerning what the fortune teller had told her, despite his protests. Instead, she had opted for directing him to the nearest Italian restaurant where they had ended up chatting for an hour and a half over bowls of fettuccine alfredo and glasses of red wine while waiting for what Lois referred to as 'the point of no return.'

It had come all too soon though, in the form of the muggers who-as Clark had been inside settling the bill-tried to get Lois' wallet. He had just finished with the waiter when he heard the scuffle. In the end, he hadn't thought as he had stepped in front of her, taking the bullet that had been meant for her (but that wouldn't have gotten fired in the first place had not Lois tried to stop them…), knocked both assailants unconscious and flown Lois to safety.

He had dropped them a safe distance away, on the rooftop of a nearby apartment building and silence had followed briefly, both shocked by what had happened-Clark, for not even hesitating in exposing his powers to Lois, and Lois herself, who wasn't' even thinking in terms of Clark's powers and her opinion of the man in question but of the fact that she was now, without question in her opinion, going to die in four days.

He put a hand up to finger the hole that the bullet had made in his shirt. He had had to explain that and he hadn't stopped until he had told her _everything_ which, in turn, had lead to Lois announcing that she needed a drink. This brought them full circle, now standing outside the bar they had entered 20 minutes ago.

"Come on Clark," Lois commanded, walking towards the spot they had left the truck, and opening the door. "Lot's to do tonight."

"Where are we going?" Clark asked, following her and letting himself into the truck.

"Chloe's, first," Lois examined her nails before looking at him with a glint in her eyes. "We're not dressed for where we're going tonight."

"And where ARE we going Lois?" he asked impatiently, pulling out into the busy Metropolis street and heading in the direction of Chloe's apartment.

Lois simply smiled at him, "That's for Chloe and I to know and you to find out. Now drive faster Superboy, I've got years of partying to do in one evening and we're wasting time."

Clark glared at her, speeding up slightly, "Superboy?"

She shrugged, laying back against the seat and closing her eyes, "It sounds right somehow, doesn't it? With your powers and all…" she opened her eyes, taking in the quietly indignant look Clark's face. "Alright then, Superman…better now?"

Clark shot her another glare, opening his mouth to argue with her-Lois' intent when she had started the name calling. She smiled, closing her eyes and tuning him out.

However annoying she might find him, tonight she was counting on the familiarity of Clark Kent and her cousin to ground her and if it had to start with a fight, she was more than willing to accommodate herself. With a smirk, she opened her mouth to retort to Clark's latest statement regarding her newest nickname for him and inwardly tamped down on the voice inside her currently screaming in terror at her fate, insisting that she go hide in a corner and hope that it fate passed her by. Lois Lane had news for this voice though: she wasn't planning on going out with a whimper, hiding in a safe corner somewhere.

She was going out with a bang.


	6. Chapter 6 Part 1

**Chapter 6: Depression Part 1**

Lois didn't bother knocking as she let herself into Chloe's apartment, Clark following close behind her. He smiled briefly in greeting to Chloe, who had gotten up from her spot on her couch as Lois had unceremoniously entered the apartment.

"Lois?" Chloe began to speak, having had her curiosity rise when Lois had called her to tell her that they were going out tonight. She didn't know where, and she didn't know why, but she had her suspicions that it had something to do with what the fortune teller had told Lois only days before.

"Chloe, do you still have the present we bought for Clark's next birthday here?" Lois asked bluntly, ignoring the question that Chloe's eyes were currently communicating with her. They were asking her why she was here in Metropolis, and moreover, why she had called her at almost midnight on a weeknight to go clubbing.

She furrowed her brow, confused, "Yeah. I thought Clark wasn't supposed to know about it though and he's clearly here in the room with us…"

"Where'd you put it?" Lois continued with her seemingly one-sided conversation.

"In my closet……it's all wrapped and everything. Lois, what's going on here?" Chloe asked suspiciously, following her cousin as she went into Chloe's bedroom and started rummaging through her closet. She watched as Lois found what she was looking for and held the box up triumphantly.

She turned to Clark, handing him the large wrapped present before going back to the closet and beginning to take out clothes suitable for going out, "Consider it your birthday Smallville."

Chloe, having grown tired of watching her cousin ignore her attempts at conversation, turned to Clark for answers, "What's going on with Lois, Clark?"

Clark sighed, meeting Chloe's eyes and opening his mouth to speak.

"I'm going to die in 4 days, that's what's going on," Lois cut in harshly, moving past Clark and Chloe into the hallway and into the bathroom with one of her cousins' skankiest tops and the pair of dark blue jeans that she had left here the last time she had come to Metropolis and gone out with her cousin.

"What!" Chloe said incredulously. She had had her suspicions that Lois had harboured some inkling of belief in Madame Rosalind's words but she hadn't thought she had taken those inklings so far as to actually believe that she was going to die in the next 4 days... "Wasn't the fortune teller wrong about Lucy?"

"No," Lois called from the other side of the bathroom door. "And Clark here ruined any chance I might have had of getting out of it."

Chloe turned accusing, yet curious eyes on Clark who, for the most part, had remained silent since they had entered her apartment although he would probably argue that that was Lois' fault, "What'd you do, Clark?"

Clark opened his mouth yet again to speak.

"He saved my life," Lois cut in, opening the bathroom door and leaning against the doorframe, dressed as she was in a bright red top with a plunging neckline and no back, and her favourite pair of hip-hugger jeans.

Chloe was even more confused now, "And how is that a bad thing? I thought you wanted to live."

"Because I went back to the fortune teller tonight to get another prediction to prove her wrong and she told me that the man who flies would save my life at approximately 10:30 tonight," she paused, crossing her arms angrily as she continued. "And guess who not only caught a bullet that was meant for me, but flew me up out of harms way at exactly 10:30?"

"You what!" Chloe whirled away from her cousin to question Clark in alarm. "Did anyone see you!"

Lois froze as she took in this interaction, "Wait. You knew about this? And you didn't tell me?"

Chloe, still in shock, shrugged, "It wasn't my secret to tell. How much did he tell you?"

"Everything," Clark, finally finding his voice, said quietly, "I told her everything."

"Really?" Chloe looked at him before shifting her eyes to Lois speculatively. He hadn't even told Lana everything, even when they had been dating… "Everything?"

"Everything," Clark said heavily.

Lois interrupted with a loud clearing of her throat. She didn't have time for this. She had clubs to go to, guys to dance with, alcohol to consume and most importantly, a superhero she hadn't known existed in Clark Kent to ignore. Despite how well either her cousin or Clark thought she was taking the revelation of Clark's powers, she was still processing the news that, because of their existence tonight, she was going to die. For that reason, she found herself unwilling to put the time or effort into a conversation that would only lead her to learning more things about Clark that she didn't need to know considering what fate had in store for her, "As much as I would love to continue this moment of 'Clark Kent has Special Powers,' we have things to do tonight. Clark, open your gift and get dressed. You too Chloe."

"You got me clothes?" Clark exclaimed in a sceptical voice.

"WE got you clothes," Chloe cut in, smiling as she remembered the shopping trip in question. Lois' constant complaints about Clark-the Fashion-Victim-Kent had spurred she and Martha into action, suggesting to Lois that if she had such a problem with Clark's addiction to plaid, to do something about it. What they hadn't counted on was Lois' reaction to this idea. To both of their surprise, she had thought it was a great idea and the next day, she had dragged Chloe into Metropolis' biggest mall and the shopping had begun. She cleared her throat, continuing for a still disbelieving Clark, "Your Mom helped with the pant size. It was supposed to be a birthday present but apparently Lois thinks this is more important…"

"Well he can't go out looking like he just stepped off the farm," Lois argued, watching as Clark opened the box and stared down at the contents.

He groaned. The clothes were VERY different than what he was used to wearing and unfortunately screamed of his red Kryptonite induced alter-ego: Kal.

This alone was an indicator to him that this was going to be a long night…

"Chloe?" Clark spoke through clenched teeth as he looked up at the club that Lois had chosen tonight. "Whose idea was it to come here of all places?"

Chloe sighed, trying desperately to hide her mirth at Clark's uncomfortable stance as they stood outside Atlantis, "Lois'. It's her favourite club."

"Of course it is…" he trailed off, following Lois and Chloe as they entered the club without issue, Lois apparently having been on the List because they didn't have to wait in the line.

Kal had never had to wait in the line either…

"Look," Chloe murmured, sticking close to Clark as Lois led them to one of the small tables on the fringes of the dance floor. "It's not going to be that bad. It's not like she's out to prove something tonight and that's something at least. You haven't seen trouble until you've seen Lois Lane on a mission to prove something…" she tried to re-assure Clark, who had had a scared look under all his other facial expressions for most of the time that they had been at her apartment-which might, admittedly, have something to do with his gift which had only served to make him more uncomfortable- and continuing onward until their arrival at the club.

Clark drew a deep breath, closing his eyes and trying to gather his bearings as Chloe's last words repeated themselves for him inside his head ominously. If HE had a week to live, he wouldn't be living life quietly. No, he had a feeling that he WOULD be out on a mission to prove something to the world-anything that would prove that he had actually been alive so that years later when people looked back on history, they would still feel his life's faint imprint on the world. Unfortunately, despite their differences, he and Lois shared some undeniable characteristics and one of them included the propensity for getting themselves into trouble when they tried to prove themselves to the world.

And at this moment in time, Clark was willing to bet that Lois' supposedly 'final' mission of proof was going to result in a mess that he and Chloe were going to have to clean up.

"Clark!" Chloe came back to the spot that her best friend had abruptly stopped on the way to the table, grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the table that Lois had staked out by the dance floor. "Let's go. Lois is waiting and I need back-up. She's acting weird tonight…"

"I heard that, Chloe," Lois said dryly as her cousin and Clark approached the booth and sat down. "And I'm not acting weird. In fact, I think I'm acting more myself than I ever have before."

She looked up as one of the many waitresses came up to the table to get their drink order. Lois however, having already started to feel the tequila buzz she had been riding fade as they had reached Chloe's apartment, beat her to the punch, "I'll have a bottle of tequila and a shot glass please."

"Lois…" Clark said warningly. She HAD warned him that she was going to get drunk tonight but that didn't mean that he couldn't have a hand in controlling how drunk she ultimately became. Lucy was coming into town tomorrow morning after all and Lois would want to be relatively sober for that.

Or at least he hoped. He didn't relish having to baby-sit a wasted Lois tonight…

"Oh, you want in on this too, Smallville?" Lois crossed her arms defiantly, raising her eyebrow in a mock question. With this in mind, she turned back to the waitress, "Sorry. We'll need two shot glasses. Chloe, you want anything?"

"I'll have a Cosmopolitan," Chloe looked between her cousin and Clark, regarding them seriously since they had arrived at her apartment less than and hour before hand. Maybe it was just her, but somehow, Lois and Clark were managing more than their usual animosity for each other tonight. There was a familiarity under the surface though that she didn't as yet have a name for that came with the anger.

Something told her that she was going to need a long chat with Martha Kent about the status of Lois and Clark's quasi-friendship because from where she was standing, it was starting to look a lot like a real friendship with the possibility for more…

"Lois," Clark tried again once the waitress had left to fill their order, this time leaning forward on the table in an effort for Lois to take him more seriously. "I really don't think this is a good idea…."

"Oh, it's a great idea," Lois said firmly in a no-nonsense voice. "Now are you getting drunk with me or not?"

Clark met her eyes defiantly, quickly mulling over the situation. He didn't want her to drink herself into such a wasted state that she did something she regretted and she didn't have a clue that his heritage made him invulnerable to the effects of alcohol…"Sure Lois, why not?"

He felt someone kick his shin and he looked over to Chloe, who was currently looking at him like he had grown three heads. She was confused at how the evening was going; this much he had realized when he and Lois had arrived at her apartment.

Truth be told, he was confused at how this whole week had been going. Indeed, he and Lois, while still not exactly friends but close to it, were not as good of friends as he and Chloe and therefore, the past few days of weird behaviour from her should not have produced such an overprotective streak in him. This was Lois, she could take care of herself and moreover, she probably hadn't needed an intervention the evening Jeffrey had broken up with her. His Mom aside, he still didn't know why he had invited her back to the farmhouse and then proceeded to sit up with her all night eating ice cream and watching 'When Harry Met Sally.'

Both he and Chloe were broken out of their mutual hazes of confusion by Lois' voice as the drinks came and she shoved a full shot glass at Clark. "Drink up Smallville," she said, doing her shot quickly and filling the glass again.

Clark turned his head away from Chloe, whose look had now taken a speculative turn and was regarding her cousin's exchanges with Clark through new eyes. He knew that she knew that he couldn't get drunk and he also knew that she knew that the only reason he would have agreed to 'get drunk' with Lois would be to drain the bottle of tequila enough so that she didn't get completely wasted and start doing things she would regret.

Truth be told, she would have expected this kind of behaviour from Clark if had been her, or Lana, or Pete but to do this for Lois was….weird. They weren't friends. They complained about each other constantly. So why did she suddenly sense that something else now lay between them?

She watched as Clark threw back his shot as if it were water and Lois began to refill his glass. Tonight had suddenly taken on new meaning and somehow she knew she was going to enjoy watching it come about…


	7. Chapter 6 Part 2

**Chapter 6: Depression Part 2**

Chloe rolled her eyes as Clark and Lois filled two more shot glasses of tequila. They were on their second bottle already and it wasn't even 2:30 AM. Granted, she had joined in at one point but compared to Lois, who was no cheap drunk, and Clark who was not feeling even a drop of the alcohol for obvious reasons, she had quickly bowed out and switched back to a kinder, gentler drink.

"Had enough Smallville?" Lois raised an eyebrow in his direction.

Clark shot her a cocky grin, trying to correctly portray himself as tipsy-on-the-way-to-drunk in an attempt to get Lois to call it quits for the night, "I'm getting there."

Lois shook her head sorrowfully and picked up her glass, "I'm disappointed in you Clark. I would've thought a big guy like you would have more of a tolerance."

"Some of us haven't drunk vodka with Russian generals," Clark teased, drinking his shot and closing his eyes as if dizzy. In reality, he wasn't feeling a thing but, seeing how he and Lois had already drank a bottle and a half of tequila, he thought it was time to call this game quits.

"You alright Clark?" Chloe asked in a concerned voice, playing along with her best friend's game. She was impressed actually. Clark was in rare form tonight, having not only managed to keep up with Lois (not that it had been a problem) but with acting as if the tequila was actually having an affect on him.

"Mm-hm," he murmured, breathing in through his nose as if trying to either quell nausea or unconsciousness. "Think I've had enough though."

Lois tilted her head, taking her own shot and setting the empty glass on the table. Truth be told, she was glad he was stopping. She had broken her own record tonight but hadn't wanted to lose to a farm boy from Kansas who rarely drank. "I guess I win then."

Clark opened his eyes, casting her a sleepy grin, "Yeah. You do."

"Good," Lois said breezily, "Another thing I can check off my 'Things to Do Before I Die' list. I drank Clark Kent under the table."

"Hey," Clark piped up defiantly. "I'm not under the table."

Lois shrugged, "You stopped the game. Same difference. I can still cross off the point on my now almost useless list."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Lois, you're not going to die."

"And how do you know that?" Lois turned on Chloe, leaning her chin on her propped up arms. "The fortune teller told you that the man who flies had saved you all the time and we know for a fact that that was true. She got all my predictions correct too, don't forget…"

"I know Lois," Chloe continued, risking a look at Clark, who was looking grateful that they had got Lois to stop drinking. She was drunk, but not wasted and that at least, was something, "Because I know you and quite frankly, I have never known someone so in charge of their own life as you can be sometimes. Nothing happens for you that you either didn't plan into being or purposely failed to plan into being."

Lois glared at her cousin, "Two words: meteor freaks. I didn't plan on ANY of them. And I'm not controlling."

Clark snorted in laughter at this.

Lois glared at Clark now, "I'm not."

"Yes, you are," Chloe tried again, sick to death of her cousin's negative comments about her 'impending death', "And I blame Uncle Sam for this one. You, Lois Lane, make your own fate and nothing is going to change that. And I know for a fact that you're not going to die because you don't believe in fate, or destiny, which negates everything that the fortune teller said."

She cleared her throat, happy that the last few shots of alcohol were kicking into Lois' system, steadily making her too inebriated to argue effectively with her on this point. "Let's just say that in one version of the universe, Madame Rosalind was right and you DO die in 3 days."

Lois tried to interrupt at this point but Chloe cowed her with a look before continuing, "But I don't think we're in that universe and deep down inside, I know you don't either."

Lois sighed deeply, raising depressed eyes to meet Chloe's defiant ones, "I don't believe that. And what if I was wrong about fate? What if I'm meant to die? What if I don't, and something horrible happens to someone else because I choose to defy destiny? What if….."

"Lois," Clark found his voice, forgetting for a moment that he was supposed to be playing it drunk but, judging by Lois's suddenly erratic behaviour and the fact that it appeared that she was no longer shielding her emotions from either he or Chloe, the tequila was finally having great affect for Lois and he no longer needed to bother shielding his lack of inebriation from her. "Just relax, all right? Can you do that?"

She sighed deeply, "Yes."

"All right," he exchanged looks with Chloe, who looked like she was enjoying him handle her cousin's behaviour. "Then try breathing. Take a deep breath."

She shot him an incredulous look.

Clark continued, "No, I'm serious. Take a deep breath in." He watched as Lois did just this, her eyes closing momentarily.

"Doesn't that feel better?" he murmured, looking at Chloe, who was shooting him an impressed look now as she took a sip of the water she had switched to a half hour ago. "Try another one. See, that feels good, doesn't it?"

Lois' eyes shot open and she moved her head abruptly to look at Clark, his words triggering a memory from two years ago. Normally, she wouldn't have pointed the similarity out but apparently _in tequila veritas_ because, at the moment, she didn't care if she voiced exactly what she was thinking when she was thinking it, "Oh, my God, you're trying to have sex with me."

Chloe burst into laughter, cupping a hand over her mouth to contain the sip of water she had just taken.

Clark stifled a laugh of his own. If Lois was sober, she never would have suggested something like that to him, "Lois, you're delusional. I am not trying to have sex with you."

"I am not delusional!" Lois closed her eyes again as she moved too fast and the room spun slightly. Damn tequila…

"Uh-huh," Clark smirked, "But you are drunk and it's making you imagine things. I'm not trying to have sex with you."

"Oh really?" Lois crossed her arms, staring Clark down, "So it's just my imagination that you used something very like what you just said to me on Lana when you were dating her two years ago? To great effect unfortunately, if I recall."

Clark paled slightly, suddenly remembering what incident Lois was talking about, inwardly groaning, "How do you know about that?"

"Your Mom sent me out to the barn to get you for dinner," she looked at Chloe, wanting to share in the humiliation of Clark Kent with her cousin. "Lana was really upset about something; I can't remember what but our Mr. Kent here decided that he was going to calm her down. He talked to her first-I caught the tail end of that…"

"You were eavesdropping!" Clark exclaimed.

"…and when he got to the 'try breathing' part, which he just used on me, apparently accidentally although I don't believe it for a second, and Lana found it necessary to allow herself to be seduced," Lois rolled her eyes, disgusted by the memory. She had never liked Lana, "And so I went and threw the ball for Shelby for fifteen minutes and then went and loudly called Clark for dinner," she smirked in remembrance. Clark had looked uncomfortable for the entire meal... "From the moans, it sounded like I interrupted a good part too…"

Clark was blushing hotly at this point and Chloe was practically falling off her chair in laughter.

"You should be thankful actually," Lois continued, leaning her head onto her hands on the table, the alcohol making her tired. She was going to have to go and dance some if she wanted to shake the lethargy off and reach her second wind, "Your Mom wanted to go out to the barn and I stopped her from catching you and Lana," she cleared her throat and raised her hands up to make air quotations, " 'In flagrante' if you will."

Clark cleared his throat, embarrassed that Lois had caught he and Lana in such a delicate position. He had been so caught up in the moment, that he hadn't heard Lois approach the barn. This topic aside though, he began to speak in his own defence. He hadn't realized that he had been using the same words on Lois as he had on Lana in that case and had only meant to calm Lois down from her clearly agitated state.

"Well," he said, finding his voice as Chloe looked on in amusement, "You'll be pleased to note for the final time that, despite how I might have used the words in the past, I'm not trying to seduce you."

Lois didn't answer, concentrating through the tequila haze that was starting to set up camp in her brain for the long term. Indeed, she had been toying with tipsiness for the past hour but it had only been in the last 15 minutes that it had begun to take real effect. She stared at Clark, really looking at him through the tequila and things began to separate and clear for her. She had almost been angry when he had accidentally used some of the same words on her that he had on Lana but now, with the distance of 5 minutes and her last two shots of tequila settling in her stomach nicely, she really looked at Clark for what seemed the first time since that evening in the cornfield.

He had gotten extremely attractive in the last few years but, because of how annoying she found him and how closely she had to work with him at CKU, she had always brushed off any possible feelings in favour of remembering something else he had done to infuriate her-generally within hours of her having the brief flash of awareness. At the moment though, she didn't have these inhibitions clouding her instincts.

"Lois?" Chloe asked, touching her cousin's shoulder gently as she watched Lois stare at Clark. If she didn't know better, she would think she was checking him out…

"Lois?" Clark tried now, "Are you alright? You need to go home?"

"No, I'm fine," she shook her head negatively, leaning forward drunkenly towards Clark, "Let's have sex."

Chloe's latest sip of water that she had taken mere seconds ago sprayed across the table, her shock at hearing what she had always thought would be the last things out of her cousin's mouth hindering her ability to keep her laughter inside.

"What?" Clark said quietly, wiping the water that Chloe had accidentally sprayed across the table in his direction from his face, unsure about what he was hearing. That had come out of nowhere…had Lois Lane just suggested that they have sex?

"Oh come on Smallville!" Lois sat back crossing her arms across her chest and smirking at him, "If you had three days left to live, what would you do?

"I would…" Clark sputtered, not sure if he should tell her the truth or something else entirely. Indeed, Lois had become more attractive to him in the past two years, and even more so in the past few days when she had begun to show an uncharacteristic vulnerability. For the first time, he had begun to see the true Lois Lane and he had undeniably been attracted by it. Chloe looked at him, an incredulous look on her face as if she couldn't believe she was actually watching this conversation take place in front of her.

"Well?" Lois demanded impatiently.

Honestly, in Clark's book, had always been the best policy and, although he couldn't say that he had always been honest with the people he was closest to, he had always tried to be as much as possible. It was for this reason that he decided to go with the honest answer with Lois this time, "I would, you know, I would have sex with you" he paused, clearing his throat, "But Lois, you're not going to die."

Lois rolled her eyes. She had just propositioned the guy and he was turning her down, "See, that's the problem with you Clark. All talk and no action."

"Look Lois, you know what?" Clark got serious with her, frustrated at her ability to always make him feel stupid, "If I was going die in three days, I would try to live every moment. I would go to see the people that mean the most to me, and I would try and memorize their faces. And I would say to them all the things that I wanted to say, but have always been too afraid to."

"Like what?" Lois asked defiantly, leaning forward once again as she listened to Clark give her what she knew was going to be a Boy Scout response to the question of her impending death.

"I don't know," he shrugged his shoulders, staring into Lois' eyes and forgetting that Chloe was still sitting at the table with them for a moment.

Lois stared back, unsure of what the moment she and Clark were having meant but knowing that something was happening between them that she had never meant to: she was starting to have feelings for him.

She inwardly hoped that this was just the tequila talking…

A familiar song broke through her thoughts however, and she gratefully sat back in her chair, pushing it back and getting up from the table unsteadily, "Well, as enlightening as this chat had been, Clark, I think I'm going to go dance for awhile. Chloe, you want to come?"

"No," Chloe looked at Clark, "I think I'll stay here."

"Your loss," Lois shrugged her shoulders, pouring herself an impromptu shot and drinking it before walking away from the table, the world spinning slightly but in a good way.

Watching as her Lois joined the throng of dancers close to the bar, swaying the entire time, Chloe turned to Clark, "Ok, what was that?"

Clark met her eye, pointing in the direction that Lois had just gone, "That, Chloe, was your cousin hitting on me. She's obviously had too much to drink…"

"Clearly," Chloe rolled her eyes. "But I wasn't talking about that. That was blatantly obvious when she asked you to have sex with her. I mean, what was with your answer? And this whole evening? Did something happen in Smallville that I don't know about?"

Clark sighed heavily, the past few minutes of Lois hitting on him weighing on his mind along with the vulnerabilities that she normally didn't show but that he had been witness to over the past few days. "Chloe, I don't know! It's like I don't know her."

Chloe furrowed her brow in confusion, "What do you mean? She's Lois, irritating, sarcastic Lois, who you fight with all the time…"

"Yeah she is," Clark said quietly, watching as Lois found a guy to dance with-and then two more…at the same time… "But these last few days…it's like I'm seeing her for the first time," he continued, running a hand through his hair as a surge of what he feared was jealousy rose in him.

A slow smile began to build on Chloe's face. Hell was freezing over right before her eyes, "Clark Kent, are you attracted to my cousin?"

"I don't know," he said heavily. "She's been so different this past week that I don't know how I feel about her anymore."

"But you'd have sex with her," Chloe smirked as she brought up what had been perhaps the most stereotypical male thing her best friend had ever admitted to her. Indeed, Clark had never seemed more human-or quintessentially male-to her than at this moment.

Clark glared at her, "You're never going to let me forget that, are you?"

Chloe shook her head, chuckling lightly now, "No. It's too good. You and Lois….I can't imagine it. I mean I could at one point but, knowing what your relationship with each other is now, you'd probably kill each other first…"

They fell silent as Clark took a sip of Chloe's water, both mulling over her last words.

A roar from the crowd that Lois had disappeared into suddenly filled the room as the music changed to 'Don't Cha' by the Pussycat Dolls.

"What's happening?" Chloe squinted into the space near the bar, relaxing as she saw that some woman had climbed onto the bar and was now dancing her heart out to the males of the crowd's delight.

Clark rolled his eyes as he listened to the song and watched as the woman on the bar danced erotically to the increasingly loud yells from the crowd. The bouncers, enjoying the show, didn't try to stop her. "Someone's had too much to drink I think."

"Oh God," Chloe suddenly realized what she was seeing, "Oh this is not good."

"What?" Clark asked, turning away from the bar and looking at Chloe, "What isn't good?"

Chloe cleared her throat, praying that she was wrong, "I think that's Lois…"

"WHAT?" he exclaimed, looking back to the bar where the woman was now using the pole that attached the bar to the ceiling like a stripper. "Chloe that can't be Lois. She can't dance like that, remember? You and I were both there. She can't and that woman clearly can."

"Actually…." Chloe trailed off, wincing as she recalled Lois' actions after her infamous impression of Demi Moore, "She can. Lois has always believed in doing things well so after her unfortunate debut at that club back in our freshman year, she went and took some strippercise classes." She took in the disbelief on Clark's face before being replaced with resolve.

He had had the feeling that tonight was not going to turn out as planned and as usual, he had been right, "Right then," Clark grabbed Chloe's hand, pulling her into the crowd after grabbing their jackets and the girl's purses. "We need to get her out of here."

"I agree," Chloe said, nodding her head and following him, "But how? Are you just going to pull her off the bar?"

"That was the plan…" Clark said firmly.

"Oh," Chloe murmured, stopping as they reached the area in front of the bar.

"Yeah baby!" One of the patrons cried as Lois used the pole expertly before continuing her dance on the relatively solid surface of the bar.

Clark exchanged glances with Chloe, watching Lois in disbelief, "I can't believe this."

Chloe stifled a laugh, not only at Clark's words but at the look that had appeared on his face, "Wish she was doing that for you, Clark?"

Clark looked at her incredulously, "Your cousin's dancing on a bar like a stripper and that's what you ask me?"

Chloe was saved from answering Clark though as Lois suddenly stopped dancing and noticed them, getting down off the bar and sighing happily, "Hey guys. What's happening?"

"I don't know Lois. What's happening with you? Looks like you've been busy…" Clark crossed his arms as the song began to end and the crowd clapped for the woman currently swaying tipsily next to him.

She turned back to the crowd, raising her arms and screaming happily before turning back to her cousin and Clark, the movement causing the world to shift. She leaned against Clark as the dizziness she had been forgotten about as she had been dancing came to the forefront of her mind. The tequila was REALLY starting to catch up with her and if she wasn't mistaken, she was about to pass out.

"Lois?" Chloe lifted her cousin's face up to meet her own as Clark put a hand around Lois' waist to steady her, noticing as she went pale and fearing that they were going to need to find Lois a bathroom, "Are you going to be sick?"

Lois shook her head, closing her eyes briefly before succumbing to the tequila and passing out.

Clark managed to catch her, swinging the now unconscious Lois up in his arms and walking with Chloe to the exit, "Well that was fun. Back to your apartment then?" he asked, as the bouncers let them pass out of the Club.

"No," Chloe shook her head, "Take her back to Smallville tonight. I'll pick Lucy up tomorrow morning."

Clark nodded. Perhaps that was a better idea, "We'll just go back to your place then to get the truck."

"No," Chloe shook her head, "That'll take too long and besides all that, you'd hate it if she woke up and puked all over the truck and believe me, she'll probably do that when she wakes up. It'll be better if she's doing that in her own apartment…just fly her home and I'll bring Lucy to Smallville tomorrow morning in the truck."

"You sure?" Clark asked, shifting Lois in his arms.

Chloe nodded, raising an arm to hail a cab for herself, "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah," Clark replied, "Lucy's flight gets in at 11 AM by the way. Flight 885 from London."

"Then I should be at the farm by 2 or so," Chloe said, opening the door to the cab that had pulled up for her. "See you Clark!"

And with that, Chloe's cab pulled away and Clark was left with Lois, unconscious in his arms. He rolled his eyes, his earlier words he had thought before this evening had gotten started coming back to him:

It had been a long night.

He sighed and carried Lois into the nearest alley, finding it empty fortunately, and took off for Smallville.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Waking Up**

Clark rolled over on the couch, furrowing his brow at the sounds that had woken his slumber. His eyes popped open as he realized where he was and what he was hearing.

It was Lois, and if the sounds of vomiting coming from the bathroom were anything to go by, the tequila she had drank the night before was coming back to haunt her.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes of the residual tiredness that still lay there from his evening on Lois' couch. Indeed, after they had gotten back to Smallville, he had fished her keys out of her purse and let them into her apartment before crashing on her couch for the night.

"Lois?" he called as he approached the bathroom.

"Um-hm?" Lois groaned from her position on the tiled floor, head resting on the toilet seat.

"You alright?" he asked, trying to suppress the amusement that he felt from seeing her in such a position. It was inappropriate but damned if it wasn't amusing.

"Peachy," Lois gritted her teeth, her stomach churning as she leaned over the toilet, waiting for what felt like the inevitable to make an appearance for a second time since she had woken up ten minutes ago.

Clark sighed, stepping forward and getting down on the floor next to her before drawing her hair back from her face.

"What are you doing?" Lois groaned as she felt her stomach calm slightly, trying to discern if it was safe to go back to bed or if she should just stay here for awhile.

"Holding your hair back so you don't puke in it," he murmured, an amused smile in his voice as he began to rub her back in what he hoped was a comforting manner. "Do you think you're almost done?"

Lois shook her head and inwardly reflecting on Clark's excellent timing as her stomach turned on her again and what was left of the contents -which wasn't much- found a home in her toilet.

"I'll take that as a no," he sighed, holding her hair with one hand and continuing to rub her back with the other.

They sat that way for a few minutes more before Lois decided she was done and got up from the tiled floor unsteadily. Clark stood with her, holding her steady as her felt her sway slightly.

Lois sighed, feeling the room spin a bit, but not nearly as badly as it had when she had woken up. She leaned into Clark for a moment, letting him support her before realizing what she was doing. She shrugged off his touch, leaning over to flush the toilet again before shuffling to the sink to wash the taste of vomit out of her mouth. "What happened?" she asked stiffly and purposely not looking Clark in the eye, not trusting herself to do so after the unexpected show of affection he had been bestowing on her since he had caught her praying to the porcelain god. She spoke around her toothbrush now, spitting the first and especially foamy brushing out before she began to speak, "And how much did I end up drinking? I haven't woken up this hung-over since high school."

Clark leaned against the door frame, watching as Lois brushed her teeth and spat into the sink again before reaching for the toothpaste for a second round of brushing. He tuned her questioning half glance out, grimacing at what he had to tell her about last night. Of course, the option was always open to him to NOT tell her or even to lie, but he had a feeling she'd hate him more if he didn't tell her anything than she would if he told her anything. He settled with answering her latter question first then, "About a bottle and a bit of tequila. After you left the table, I'm not sure if you had more than that. And then there was the tequila at the first bar…"

Lois nodded as vague memories began to come back slowly, finishing quickly with her teeth and setting the toothbrush back in its holder before shuffling gingerly past Clark and getting back into bed. Her stomach might have stopped rebelling but her whole body ached and her head was pounding, "So what happened then?"

She took in the silence that greeted her second stating of the question and closed her eyes in dread. Eminent death or not, she did NOT want to hear that she had been doing inappropriate things at the bar last night. She had a strange feeling that this is what she was going to hear though. The look on Clark's face alone gave that away…

"You don't remember any of it?" Clark asked softly, sitting down on the bed next to her.

She shook her head, stopping mid-way through the motion as the pounding in her head increased. She made a mental note not to do that, "Bits and pieces. Nothing past about the sixth shot of the tequila I ordered at Atlantis."

"Great," Clark cursed his bad luck, muttering under his breath and wishing that he was anywhere but here. Where was Chloe when he needed her? He didn't want to be the one to tell Lois that not only had she come on to him last night, but that she had followed up that request-and subsequent rejection-with dancing on a bar like a stripper. It wouldn't be nearly so bad if she hadn't been so good at it. Whoever had taught those strippercise classes Chloe said she had taken should be given a prize…

"Clark," Lois became more firm. She was in no mood for Clark Kent's trademark hedging of the subject, "What did I do last night?"

"Lois, you don't want to know," he tried to get out of explaining it to her. "You're going to die in three days so what does it matter anyways?"

"CLARK," Lois closed her eyes, the raising of her voice having agitated her head more than she had planned. She moved the covers up to cover her face, suddenly afraid of what Clark could potentially tell her. She didn't remember much of last night but she knew the state of mind she had gone into the evening with and that left her with little hope for even a quasi-tame response from the man currently sitting on her bed. She listened as Clark sighed deeply and could almost hear the grimace that she knew was now on his face.

Clark, she had found, grimaced a lot when she demanded that he tell her something he didn't want to tell her.

Clark looked at the lump of covers that Lois now represented in the bed, "Alright. Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you…"

"What'd I do?" Lois moaned softly through the blankets, urging Clark to go on as the pounding in her head dulled slightly.

"You danced on a bar," he said hesitantly, starting with what he thought was the bad news first before pulling back the covers and looking her in the eyes.

She pushed the covers down and met his gaze suspiciously, "That's it?"

He paused and then…"Well, you might have on to me," he finished quickly, the words spilling out of him, "But that was it, I swear."

"Oh God," Lois groaned now. This was worse than she had thought. Why had he started with the good news first? Dancing on the bar was nothing compared to the embarrassment she felt from having come on to Clark. Although her cousin had long since gotten over her crush on the man in question, Chloe was going to kill her. Either that or make ridiculous fun of her.

She had a feeling the latter was more likely to happen.

"I came on to _you_…."

"Well don't make it sound so awful," Clark suddenly got defensive, getting up off the bed and going to the bathroom. By the way Lois had been wincing earlier he could tell she had a headache. He emerged moments later with a glass of water and the jar of aspirin that Lois kept in her medicine cabinet.

"Look," Lois sat up slightly, pushing the covers off her face and taking the glass of water and the painkillers that Clark was offering her. "Don't take this the wrong way Smallville, but, you and I? We're kind of like oil and water and whatever I said to the contrary is not an accurate reflection of how I feel about you. I was drunk and extremely depressed." She paused, trying to remember the incident in question but came up empty. She turned to him, curious. "What'd I say anyway?"

Clark cleared his throat, watching as Lois took a sip of the water before placing two aspirins on her tongue and washing it down with still more of the water. He waited until she was finished, taking the glass from her and setting it on the bedside table. "Um, well…"

"Clark, just say it," Lois said firmly as she lay back in the bed again. "You always do this. If you just said things and stopped thinking so much than your life would be so much easi…."

"You asked me to have sex with you," he said, a blush creeping up his face. She had told him he thought too much last night, too…

Lois' eyes went wide and she paled, "I what?" Oh, this was SO much worse than what she originally though. Coming on to Clark was all well and good as long as she kept it PG-13 but blatantly asking the guy to have sex with her?

Chloe was never going to let her hear the end of this one.

"I was trying to calm you down and then you accused me of trying to have sex with you. We argued for a moment about it and then you got this look in your eyes. Before I knew it, you were asking me to have sex with you," Clark said quickly, the blush that had started to grow on his face moments ago getting deeper, "Ask Chloe if you don't believe me. She was there for it."

Lois cleared her throat, trying to think about what her alcohol infused brain had been thinking. She HAD been drinking tequila, and tequila always made her horny. There was also the fact that Clark was attractive-very attractive, or so many of her friends at school had told her of her almost friend. Furthermore, if she remembered correctly from their first meeting, he was also very well endowed and she knew for a fact that her alcohol filled self would have remembered that simply because it was so unforgettable. It wasn't like naked, well-endowed and completely sexy men dropped out of the sky everyday but Clark Kent had and for that reason-like it or not-she was forever going to remember him.

She inwardly stifled a moan as she realized what she had been thinking. If he had been any other guy-and she hadn't only just met him-and furthermore she knew she was going to die in three days-even sober- she probably would have asked him to have sex with her too.

"I didn't take you up on the offer if that's what you're worried about," Clark said quietly, having watched the expressions that Lois had been making from the bed since he had told her what she had done last night.

She let out an embarrassed and inwardly relieved laugh, "I didn't think you would. You're too much of a Boy Scout. Sleeping with drunken women who literally throw themselves at you isn't your style. At least I don't think it is. You've told me a lot of things in the past 24 hours that have made me look at you differently."

Clark didn't think she'd appreciate to hear at this point that he had openly admitted to her that, under different circumstances, he would have taken her up on the offer. He preferred to dwell instead on her apparently changing opinion of him. For some reason, he liked that she was seeing him in a new light, "How differently?"

"Well the flying put you in an entirely different category than what you were in yesterday at this time," Lois teased, reaching for the water that Clark had placed on the bedside table. Clark, noticing her futile effort, took pity on her and passed her the water glass.

"Thanks," she took a sip gratefully. A stunned look came over her face as she finished, memories of what had been supposed to happen today coming back to her.

"What?" Clark looked alarmed. "Are you going to be sick again?"

Lois rolled her eyes, handing the water glass back to Clark, "No. I just realized that my sister's plane landed," she looked at the clock on her bedside table, "Twenty minutes ago and I'm not there to meet her."

"Chloe's taking care of Lucy," Clark said reassuringly. "You don't need to worry about it."

Lois drew in a breath, laying back against the pillow and sighing before closing her eyes. He had taken care of everything and for some reason, for the first time since she had been told she was going to die in a week by that damnable fortune teller, she felt safe. She basked in the feeling, letting herself for the first time enjoy the safe feeling she always got off of Clark but had never let herself fully experience.

Clark just watched her a moment, really looking at her for what seemed like the first time in a long time. He didn't get to see this side of Lois often; that must be why he felt the need to examine her this carefully. Indeed, the evening before at the bar, she hadn't been herself. Truth be told, he didn't think she had been herself at all since the morning she had come back from the fortune teller's for the first time.

Or maybe she had been…

He didn't let himself think that maybe she had actually been more herself than she had been since they had met simply because this side of her was making him have feelings he didn't even know were possible with Lois Lane.

He was attracted to her and that was not good.

Not good at all.

He felt, rather than saw as her hand snuck out of the covers, eyes still closed, and took his hand in her own.

"Thanks Clark," she said softly, feeling for some unexplained reason like she needed to thank him for what he had done for her in the last few days and for the safe feeling he was giving off.

"For what?" he smirked at her uncharacteristic behaviour, squeezing her fingers lightly with his palm and running his thumb over the back of her hand.

"For this," she murmured, rolling onto her side, his hand still in hers. A wave of memory had just finished passing over her and she was reminded again that she was going to die in three days.

Suddenly behaving differently towards Clark became less of an issue.

She continued, opening her eyes to look at him. She watched as he smiled at her, "You're a good friend Clark."

His smile broadened, "You called me Clark."

"That's your name, silly," Lois teased, closing her eyes as drowsiness began to sneak into her body.

"Yeah, but you don't call me it," he retorted.

"Well, I have three days to live. I might as well use your actual name while I still can," she sighed, feeling the drowsiness turn into almost sleep.

Clark cleared his throat awkwardly, sensing that this moment was encroaching on uncharted territory for them and started to stand.

"No," Lois said hurriedly, as much of a shock to her as it was for him. She was about to fall asleep but surprisingly, she found herself wanting him there with her when she finally did. "Wait. Can you just….."

Clark raised a questioning eyebrow as he tightened his hold on her hand and sat back down on the bed, moving himself so he was lying down next to her. He sighed as the bed made him realize again just how uncomfortable her couch really was.

"I don't want to be alone right now," she mumbled, moving closer and laying her head on his chest, hand still enclosed in his.

"Okay," he said awkwardly, clearing his throat and settling a hesitant arm around her.

This was all very strange….


	9. Chapter 8 Part 1

**Chapter 8: Conversations Part 1**

Chloe fumbled with the door handle to Lois' apartment, frustration at the weight of the bag hanging over her shoulder making her furrow her brow in annoyance. Indeed, Lucy Lane, unlike her sister Lois, didn't travel light. Aside from the heavy backpack she was currently carrying, Lucy had two more bags that were currently waiting to be brought into Lois' apartment in the back of the Kent's truck. It seemed that she was moving back to America but Chloe strongly suspected that this had something to do with General Lane, who had tracked her down in Europe and forced her home.

She sighed in relief as the key finally let her into the apartment and stumbled in, Lucy on her heels.

"Lois?" Lucy called into the apartment. "I'm here….." She wandered into the living room, looking around at the pictures on the walls and the books on the shelves with a smile on her face. She had missed her sister.

She had been surprised when the General had called her a week ago about coming home-and relieved. Indeed, she hadn't known how much she had missed the idea of coming home-an option that had, until recently, not been a possibility due to her many indiscretions-and the notion of seeing her sister had been especially tempting. So after stopping briefly in Washington to see her father, she had decided to come to Smallville.

Her thoughts were broken though as her cousin's voice, shocked, sounded an alarm.

"What is it?" Lucy exited the living room and joined Chloe at the doorway to what she assumed was her sister's bedroom. "What are we 'Oh My God-ding' fo…Oh my God. When did this happen?"

"I don't know," Chloe sounded dazed and confused as she looked into the room, transfixed upon the entwined figures on Lois' bed. Well, entwined in a manner of speaking. Both her cousin and Clark were still fully clothed but the fact remained that not only were they in bed together-a feat that she was sure was freezing some blistering hot lakes in hell right now-but Lois and Clark actually looked like they were enjoying the others company.

In response to the gawking that the couple on the bed were currently enduring, they stirred, Lois burrowing her face deeper into her bed companions chest and her arms tightening him.

Lucy could have sworn her sister had said she loathed Clark but, times changed evidentially. If this was 'loathing,' Lucy didn't think 'liking' would be appropriate for anyone under the age of 18 to see.

Clark, having been woken slightly when Lucy and Chloe had entered the apartment but even more so when Lois had cuddled closer to him moments ago, now opened his eyes groggily, "Chloe? Is that you? Did you pick up Lucy?"

Chloe smirked at how cute her best friend sounded-and looked come to think of it. His hair was sticking up at odd angles and his voice had that unclear quality that followed the first few moments of wakefulness. "Yeah Clark, she's right here with me."

Clark shut his eyes, nodding and tightening his arm around the woman lying half on his chest, and half on the bed, "Good. Lois will be glad."

Lucy cleared her throat, "Speaking of my sister, Chloe and I should probably be leaving. You and Lois look…occupied."

"What?" Clark shot her a blank look. "Occupied?" He looked down at the woman sleeping almost on top of him and blanched, noting that, while her right hand was resting chastely against his chest, her right leg was currently lying in quite a compromising position across his groin. "Oh."

He moved a bit, picking Lois' arm off his chest and moving out from under her awkwardly.

Chloe's smirk broadened and she let out a small giggle as her cousin-in response to Clark's movements-simply tightened her hold on him. Her giggles turned into full blown laughter as her best friend tried harder and Lois' grip tightened further.

"A little help here?" he said in a quiet, but insistent voice, casting the two women standing in the doorway an annoyed glance.

Lucy rolled her eyes, moving from her position in the doorway to take pity on Clark. She reached the bed, leaned down, and gently whispered into her sister's ear, "Lois, wake up. The General's home."

"I'm up, I'm up," Lois sat up, and moaned, a hand going up to massage her head-now protesting loudly at the sudden movement. She moved her leg in doing so, allowing Clark to move out from under her. She looked around sleepily for the General without noticing this movement only to spot her sister, now sitting on the edge of the bed looking at her with an amused expression on her face. "Lucy?"

"Miss me?" Lucy smiled, not hesitating in returning the hug that Lois wasted no time in bestowing on her sister. She smiled over Lois' shoulder at the frazzled but grateful look that Clark now had on his face as he first adjusted his clothes-she was going to have to ask him about why he thought this was necessary if had only been 'sleeping' with her sister- and then moved toward to doorway, leaving the bedroom with Chloe.

"Of course I did," Lois responded to her sister's question, holding Lucy tighter to her body and closing her eyes, revelling in the presence of the sister that had been all but MIA for the last 4 years.

"I missed you too."

Lois sighed, pulling apart and touching Lucy's face as if to memorize what she looked like, "So how've you been?"

"Alright," Lucy smiled, nodding her head. "The General called me home last week though."

"Wait," Lois scooted over in the bed, leaving Lucy space to climb up with her. "He knew where you were all this time?" Even Lois had been unsure of Lucy's whereabouts most of the time. She would receive random phone calls, tidbits of information about her travels, but never a concrete 'I'm here and I'll be here for this amount of time.'

"No," Lucy shook her head negatively. "I've been running since I left Smallville but Dad cleared my name and now, here I am."

"Are you staying this time?" Lois asked warily, "Or are you just here to get some money and take off again?"

Lucy ran a hand through her hair sheepishly, "Guess I deserved that, didn't I?"

"Pretty much," Lois smirked unrepentantly in the way that sister's-skilled in the ways of insulting each other with no long lasting repercussions-did. Her brow furrowed as the feeling that something was missing from the room hit her.

"Looking for someone?" Lucy drawled, crossing her arms.

Lois shot her a defensive look, "No, not at all. It's just…"

"He's in the living room with Chloe," Lucy crossed her arms knowingly. "Probably being interrogated by her for the inappropriate position we found you guys in when we got here."

Lois blushed. She was beginning to regret her decision to stop thinking so much and throw down her inhibitions...

"What's up with you and him anyway?" Lucy continued her line of questioning. "The last time I was here you two were at each other's throats and now, from the looks of where your leg was, you're at some place else entirely."

"Lucy!" the blush on Lois' face grew, and she uncharacteristically fell silent.

Noticing this, Lucy's smile dropped, "Alright Lo. What's wrong? Something must be because not only did you just blush-something that I've only ever seen you do four times in your life thus far, but you just went quiet. Again, this is something I don't normally see you do."

Lois drew a sigh, "Lucy, what if I told you that I had been re-thinking my life?"

Lucy raised an eyebrow, "Well, that would imply that you had thought about it a first time and, while I've noticed that you've thought about the guys you've dated, you haven't exactly been the pickiest about the direction your life takes."

Lois rolled her eyes at her sister's words, nudging her playfully, "Come on Luce. I'm serious."

"So am I," Lucy smiled, drawing a breath when she saw that Lois actually was serious. "Exactly what part were you re-thinking?"

"My friends," Lois started, "My academic decisions. My family."

"And what's wrong with your family?" Lucy said, slightly defensive about the implication in Lois' statement. "We still talk to each other, don't we? Many families don't even do that. We may not always like each other Lo, but at least there's a level of communication."

Lois shot her an incredulous look, "And that's enough for you?"

Lucy shrugged, smiling wryly, "It's had to be. But maybe that explains how I've turned out the way I have…"

"It DOESN'T have to be this way, and I think you turned out just fine," Lois pushed the covers back, moving to get up and take off the clothes that she had been wearing since last night. She wrinkled her nose as the movement uncovered the smell of cigarette smoke and tequila from the fabric...and the unmistakeable smell of stale vomit from earlier in the morning before Clark had come into the bathroom. She had thought she'd missed her hair but apparently she had missed it only the second time, when Clark had been holding it back for her. Therefore, the original plan of just changing her clothes was out; she needed a shower and her conversation with Lucy was just going to have to wait until she got it.

She continued though, deciding that she could talk and undress for her shower at the same time-it wasn't as if her sister hadn't seen it. "When Mom was alive we actually liked each other. Remember? I've forgotten what that feels like. I mean, I look at the Kent's and I see a family. I look at us-you, me, the General-and I see people who only talk to each other because they feel some kind of obligation to do so."

"Is that the way you feel about me then?" Lucy raised an eyebrow, not taking what her sister had been saying as an insult even though her first inclination had been to argue with her. The truth of the matter was that Lois had a point.

"No," Lois said after a moment, looking her sister in the eye unapologetically. "But your behaviour over the last few years has made me WANT to feel that way about you and it makes me angry."

"Fair enough," Lucy watched as Lois got out of the bed and shut the door to the bedroom before starting to take off her clothes from the previous evening. "What's brought on this sudden bout of introspection, if I might ask?"

"You may," Lois took off her shirt, dropping it to the floor next to her pants before bringing out her bathrobe. "But I'm not answering."

"Why not?" Lucy got off the bed and followed her sister into the bathroom, leaning against the doorframe as Lois turned on the shower.

"That's none of your business," Lois stepped into the shower, pulling the curtain shut.

"Sure it is," Lucy came closer to the shower, put down the lid of the toilet, and sat down. "And even if it's not, it's my duty as your little sister to get it out of you anyways." She sighed as Lois ignored her in favour of the hot water of the shower.

"Alright then," Lucy stood up, realizing that she was not going to get anything out of her in this environment. "But don't think I'm not going to get it out of you eventually. I'll be in the kitchen when you're ready."

"Okay," Lois popped her head out from behind the shower curtain. "We'll talk later then."

Lucy rolled her eyes in exasperation. Lois thought she was getting away with opening up the line of questioning that she had and not explaining why she had done so in the first place. She was wrong though; Lucy WAS a Lane after all and Lane's always got what they wanted eventually, "Anything you want for lunch? I'm starving."

Lois made a face, her stomach turning even at the thought of putting something into it, "Ugh. Don't even mention food. Water. You could get me water."

"Okay…" Lucy said in a confused voice, moving to leave the bathroom.

"And Lucy?" Lois pulled herself back behind the shower curtain. "Aspirin would be great too."

Lucy paused at the doorway, about to ask why she would need this and stopped. Clark would be an easier target for information than Lois.

With this in mind she left the bathroom, closing the door behind her.


	10. Chapter 8 Part 2

**Chapter 8: Conversations Part 2**

"Okay," Chloe said in an incredulous voice, the door to Lois' bedroom barely shut. "Who are you and what have you done with Clark Kent? Are you on Red K again?"

"Excuse me?" Clark looked insulted, looking her briefly in the eye before walking past her into the kitchen.

"Are you on Red K?" Chloe said once more, this time annunciating the words so she could be sure that Clark heard and understood them.

Clark rolled his eyes, not honouring her question with an answer as he went about filling Lois' kettle with water and sat it on the stove, turning the burner on before moving to the cupboards and rifling through them for the can of hot chocolate mix that he knew Lois had. Despite her arguments to the contrary, he knew for a fact that she enjoyed hot chocolate as much, if not more, than coffee.

"Clark?" Chloe demanded, leaning on the counter and looking at him demandingly. She watched as Clark evidently found what he was looking for as he took out a mug and spooned out three tablespoons of the chocolate mix into a mug

"No Chloe," he leaned on the other side of the counter towards her, having set the mug aside to wait for the water to come to a boil. "I'm not on Red K."

"Then what exactly are you doing? Since when do you two sleep together?"

"We weren't sleeping together!" he retorted, a slight blush rising to his cheeks.

Chloe shot him a look.

"Okay, so we were sleeping together, but that was it. Just sleeping."

"Uh-huh," Chloe stood back from the counter, crossing her arms.

Clark went silent, the blush growing on his face.

"Look, I'm not upset," Chloe said, this time a little less harshly as she realized that she had been sounding like a jealous girlfriend. The purpose behind her accusatory words had not been for herself, but for Lois.

"You're not?" he winced. "Because it sounds like you are."

"Well I'm not," Chloe shook her head. "I'm just concerned for Lois. She honestly thinks she's going to die in three days and, contrary to what she'll tell you, Lois is a sensitive person. She's brave and strong but there's another side to her too that won't be able to survive a relationship with you, even if it's only for three days."

"First," Clark huffed, wanting to put the record straight for Chloe and ignoring the questions that had immediately arisen in his mind about why Lois could or could not 'survive' a relationship with him. He knew it had nothing to do with his powers so that meant that it had to do with feelings and he wasn't willing to go there. He had NO feelings for Lois and he was sure she felt the same way. Now if only he could only suppress the loud voice inside him that was calling him a liar. In an attempt to do just that, he continued, "I have no intention of starting a relationship with Lois in the next three days and secondly, the bed was her idea. When I got up this morning-on the couch I might add- I heard her throwing up in the bathroom and…."

"Wait, wait, wait," Chloe interrupted him. "Lois was sick this morning? She never gets sick."

"Well apparently she never passes out either but she did last night and she stayed that way until this morning, when she woke up," Clark said succinctly, moving on with his story.

"And then got sick?" Chloe raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Clark crossed his arms, looking down as he continued. "And after she was finished, she asked me to lie down with her for a moment. Said she didn't want to be alone," He paused, drawing a breath. "The next thing I knew you and Lucy were coming into the apartment."

Chloe looked at Clark, searching for a sign of dishonesty but came up empty. Clark couldn't lie at the best of times so she took his story at face value. The question that was now left in the wake of Clark's apparently true story was why Lois, a woman who had stated many times that she couldn't stand Clark Kent, would ask him to join her in bed because she 'didn't want to be alone.'

She was interrupted from her thoughts as the door to Lois' bedroom closed and Lucy joined them in the kitchen, a determined look on her face.

"Lucy," Chloe greeted her, "How's Lois?"

Lucy looked at her suspiciously, "Fine. Why would there be anything wrong with her?"

Chloe shrugged her shoulder's, unsure if Lois had told her sister exactly what the fortune teller had told her about her supposedly impending death.

"Lois wasn't feeling well this morning," Clark jumped in, saving Chloe from whatever she would have come up with, with his own words.

Lucy raised an eyebrow, a smirk growing on her face as she looked him up and down, "Hence the reason we found you and my sister in bed together? Trying to make her," she cleared her throat, the smirk growing, "feel better, Clark?"

Chloe let out a giggle.

Clark gave her an annoyed look, the blush that had been appearing at regular intervals in the past hour flushing hotly on his face again, "Look Lucy, I don't know what you think you saw in there but…."

"Something I saw the last time I was here but that you and Lois," she said, moving over to the tea kettle (which had come to a boil) and taking it off before turning and looking back at Chloe and Clark. "Apparently have just woken up to. No pun intended."

"Where is Lois then?" Chloe said awkwardly, a moment of complete silence later. Indeed, Clark hadn't answered Lucy's insinuation, instead choosing to blush even more darkly.

Lucy turned her attention to her cousin, the smirk that she had had on her face for the last few minutes faltering in response to the look that had briefly appeared on Clark's face. She had thought that her sister and Clark were simply in lust but what she had seen in her brief look was something much deeper than that and, at the moment, she was confused with what to call it. There was a tinge of lust but under it, she could have sworn she something else, something…deeper.

She cleared her throat, looking Chloe in the eye and trying her best to forget what she had seen. It had been too private an emotion and she felt guilty for 'eavesdropping' the way she had been, "She's in the shower, avoiding my questions."

"That sounds like Lois," Clark spoke up, eager to get away from the topic of how he and Lois felt about each other. He didn't know how HE felt about her, let alone how she felt about him. Indeed, when he had told Chloe the night before that he didn't know what he felt for Lois, he had been telling the truth. The fact of the matter was that in the last few days, the person she had become had been very attractive to Clark. He liked the vulnerability, the softness that shrouded Lois' usual strength that she normally didn't allow any one but herself to be aware of.

Chloe would probably put this feeling down to Clark's inherent need, as a male, to feel dominant and in control over both Lois, and the situations that she got them into sometimes and he supposed that she was right to a certain extent; he DID want a level of control over his friendship with Lois but at the same time, he longed for an equality that had never existed between them.

When a person spent as much time fighting for control with another person-male or female-there really wasn't enough time to find a balance of power.

"So why was my sister sick this morning?" Lucy piped up, interrupting Clark from his thoughts.

"We went to a club in Metropolis last night and she and Clark had a tequila drinking contest," Chloe crossed her arms, annoyance permeating her words.

Thankful for a new category of conversation, Clark joined in, "The contest was Lois' idea."

"It always is," Lucy smiled, "I'm surprised she's the one who came out sick though. Normally it's the other guy who ends up ill."

Clark shrugged, moving to pour the hot water that had been sitting on the stove for the past few minutes into his cup of hot chocolate mix, stirring it after he did so, "I guess I have a higher tolerance. Lois was fine until the last few shots but then…."

Chloe met Lucy's interested gaze, "She kind of passed out at the bar last night."

"Don't remind me," Lois' voice broke into the conversation from the doorway, having quickly dressed before throwing her wet hair into a clip and going out to the kitchen. "I'm still trying to forget the tequila, let alone the whole passing out thing. It's embarrassing."

Clark hid a smirk as he handed her the mug of hot chocolate he had prepared.

"You expect me to be able to keep that down Smallville?" Lois looked at him incredulously.

"Just try it Lois. There's nothing left in your stomach and you need to put something into it."

"But Hot Chocolate?" she brought it to her face and sniffed testingly. "How about coffee?"

"You need the sugar and the water," he murmured, looking her in the eye. "And if you're not going to eat anything, you'll need that."

"You sound like your mother," she scowled, putting the mug to her lips and sipping. She waited for a reaction from her stomach and when none came, she took another sip, "If this comes back to haunt me later, I'm blaming you."

"I figured that," he said wryly, not noticing that his seemingly innocent interactions with Lois were being diligently noted by both Lucy and Chloe.

Lucy cleared her throat, "So why were you drunk last night Lo? Special occasion?"

Lois furrowed her brow, not willing to tell Lucy the fortune-telller's predictions. She didn't want to put that kind of worry on her sister's shoulders. "No. I just…felt like it."

"Right," Lucy crossed her arms.

"What?" Lois responded defensively. "We were in Metropolis last night, decided to go to a club and I got drunk. There's nothing weird about that."

"Except that you're not a cheap drunk Lois," Lucy pointed out. "You had to have drank a huge amount of tequila to pass out, let alone spend this morning with your head hanging over the toilet."

"I lost track of how much I was drinking, okay?" Lois muttered into her mug of hot chocolate.

"Again, you only do that when something big is bothering you, so what is it?" Lucy continued her interrogations. "I'm your sister. You can tell me."

Lois put the mug down firmly, an annoyed look on her face that Lucy didn't catch. Chloe and Clark did however, and both mentally started preparing ways to get Lois through the messy proposition of convincing Lucy Lane that nothing was bothering Lois. Lucy was a Lane after all, and Lanes were persistent. She looked up, catching Lucy's eye, "Actually Lucy, I can't tell you this. You're just going to have to trust me when I say that it's just something I need to deal with. You can't help me with it and I think if you knew, it would just be bad for you."

"You're not dying, are you?" Lucy guessed jokingly. "Or sick? Because that's the only reason I can come up with why you wouldn't be able to tell me."

"No, of course not," Lois cleared her throat and tried to keep a straight face as she lied to her sister. She was going to die in three days but Lucy didn't need to know this. It was this that ultimately helped her make a decision that she had been toying with making during her shower: if Lucy was going to behave this way (and as a Lane, she knew she would), then Lois was just going to have to leave. She backed away from the counter and the almost full hot chocolate mug and went back to her bedroom to retrieve her purse, exiting the bedroom and moving to the closet to put on her jacket and shoes.

"Where are you going?" Lucy asked, walking up behind her and standing there, arms crossed and waiting for an answer.

"Out," Lois slipped her jacket on and met Lucy's eyes. She reached into her purse and got her apartment keys out. "Here. I might be a few days."

"A few days!" Lucy said in shock, eyes wide. Lois was behaving so weirdly….

"Yeah," Lois said simply, handing her keys to Lucy.

"Lois, I just got here," Lucy murmured, concern for Lois growing inside her. She was behaving so erratically. "Why are you leaving?"

"It's better if you don't ask questions Lucy," Lois said succinctly, "I've just decided that I….need some time to think about a few things and I can't do that here." And with that, she turned, heading out of the apartment and leaving a shocked Lucy in her wake.

"Go after her," Chloe muttered quickly to Clark who, along with Chloe, had watched Lois make her very impulsive and out of character decisions quietly.

He nodded, years spent as Chloe's best friend allowing him to gauge quickly exactly what she was asking of him, "Keep an eye out for Lucy and uh, if I don't come back within a few hours, assume that I'm with Lois...somewhere. Tell my parents I'm okay at least."

"Will do," Chloe broke apart from the tight conversational position that she and Clark had murmured their way into and walked over to where Lucy was looking stunned, as if she had had something to do with her sister deciding to disappear for a few days.

Clark however, caught up to Lois as she was about to get into her car, "You know, your sister's pretty upset right now," he said, not waiting for an invitation as he let himself into the passenger's side and braced himself to be yelled at.

Lois didn't answer, simply sitting in the driver's seat, rifling through her purse for her date book and opening it up to the address section once she had it out.

"So where are you going?" Clark asked, noting that Lois hadn't bothered to give him an answer concerning Lucy.

Lois looked up from the date book, "Germany. You want to come?"


	11. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9- Conversations with Dead People**

"So why are we going to Germany?" Clark asked a few minutes later as they were driving out of town.

"I need to talk to someone," Lois murmured, not meeting Clark's eyes.

Clark raised an eyebrow, "And this someone couldn't have been reached by telephone?"

"No Smallville," she said, breaking her attention from the road to look at him, slanting an apologetic half-smile his way. "She couldn't."

"She?"

Lois let out a sigh. He was going to think she was crazy, "My mother."

Clark furrowed his brow in confusion, "Your mother? But your mother's…."

Lois' half smile turned sad, "Dead, I know. We're going to see her grave. I haven't been there since I was little."

"But why the sudden need to go there?" Clark asked, "That must have been one heck of a conversation you had with your sister."

Lois shrugged her shoulders, "Not really. It just brought to mind memories I hadn't thought about in years. Going to Germany to visit my mother's grave was kind of an afterthought."

"Obviously," Clark drew a breath. "So how were you planning on getting us there?"

"The usual way," she rolled her eyes. Trust Clark to ask a stupid question, "I was planning on using one of my credit cards to buy some plane tickets and then, once we're there, I thought we'd rent a car and go to the graveyard near the military base."

From beside her, Clark fell silent, simply nodding his head at her response and thinking about her last words. Surely there was a faster-and cheaper- way of getting the two of them to Germany.

Lois watched Clark out of the corner of her eye and grimaced as she caught the slight grin that came over his face before being replaced by a look she had only seen one or two times. She averted her eyes as her observations only caused the same unpure and tequila tainted thoughts she vaguely remembered from the night before rise in response.

To a certain extent she regretted inviting Clark along, not only because of his propensity to annoy her constantly, but also because of the uneasy feelings she had been having about him since this whole nonsense with the fortune teller had begun but the fact of the matter was that Clark Kent was probably the only person who had been able to keep her sane over the past few days and she was grateful for that.

But this reason alone was forcing her to re-evaluate her whole relationship with him.

"So," Clark broke the silence with a question. "You're just going to max out your credits cards then?"

"That's what I said," Lois murmured, not breaking her attention from the road in an effort to both keep the car on the right hand side but also to prevent Clark from noticing the slight blush she was now sporting.

Clark drew a deep breath in and let it out, making a decision. There was no reason that Lois had to put herself into debt to fly the two of them to Germany. There were other alternatives after all… "Lois, go to my place first."

"Why?"

"Just do it Lois."

"But why?"

"Because we need to get you a jacket before we leave."

Lois let out a laugh and inwardly thanked God for Clark's big brother-like words. If anything, they helped push the thoughts she had been battling to the deep recesses of her brain-at least for a moment anyways, "It's wonderful that you care Clark, but I'm warm enough with my sweater on and the plane won't be so cold that I need a jacket."

"We won't be taking the plane," Clark turned his head to look at her.

"How exactly do you suggest we get there then?" Lois said jokingly, "Magically transport ourselves there or maybe you could just fly….." she turned adamant eyes on Clark. "No."

"Why not?" Clark asked, "You let me fly you home last night."

"I was drunk, Clark!" she exclaimed. "I was in no position to argue with you and if I had been, I wouldn't have let you do it."

"What, do you not trust me or something?"

"No, that's not it at all," Lois sighed, "It's just….the whole FLYING thing is just….very odd. It shouldn't be possible and I'm skeptical about the safety of the entire thing."

"Yes, because being able to make fire burst into existence with a look alone is absolutely normal AND safe…" Clark said sarcastically.

Lois sighed, looking him in the eye before turning her gaze back to the road, "That wasn't what I meant. I'm just a little reluctant, that's all. You're sure it's safe?"

"As tempting as it is, there will be no dropping you over the Atlantic Ocean if that's what you want to know," Clark looked at her dryly. "Just let me do this for you. Please."

Lois let out a snort of laughter, "Since when do you want to do things for me, Clark?"

Clark shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "I don't. It's just…you seem like you need help and, like it or not, I consider you a friend. It's not anything I wouldn't do for Chloe and there's no reason why I shouldn't allow you the same….what?" He stopped talking as Lois begin to laugh. "Look Lois, if you really want to go on the plane then by all means, feel free to max out your credit cards."

"Clark," Lois cut in shooting him an apologetic look, "I'm just teasing you. I think it would be wonderful if I wasn't terribly in debt if I don't happen to die in the next three days."

"Is that a 'yes,' Lois?"

She rolled her eyes, answering him not only with her words, but with her actions as she pulled the car over, putting the car into first gear again and taking off down the same road they had just driven down, "Yes, Clark, that's a 'yes.' Save me from the horrors of credit card debt."

Clark landed softly in the field that sat next to the graveyard, setting Lois down and immediately catching her again as she faltered.

"Sorry," she murmured, catching his eyes and smiling slightly. "My legs are just a little stiff."

"Understandable," he said. It had only taken them a little over 3 hours to get there-and that had been at relatively low speed for him-but between the coldness of the sky and the fact that Lois had been sitting in one position for a long period of time, he understood how she would be a little bit immobile now. "Do you need a moment before we go?"

Lois shook her head negatively, slipping out of his arms and standing on her own for a moment before gingerly trying a step.

"Alright," he slipped his hands into his pockets and began to follow her as she walked awkwardly across the field.

"Lois, are you sure you don't need a moment to sit down or something? You look like you've got a limp."

"No," she turned back to Clark, taking one of the flashlights she had shoved into her purse before they had left the Kent's house hours ago and turned it on, handing Clark the second, "I've sat enough, thank you very much."

"It would have been at least twice the time it took us if we had taken the plane, Lois," he took his hands out of his pockets and came to walk next to her, turning his own flashlight on.

"I know that," Lois nodded her head, "That's why I didn't complain until you insulted my ability to walk."

"Oh, I see," he slanted a half-grin in her direction. "If I'd have known that that was the reason I've been getting made fun of since I met you, I would have stopped insulting you earlier."

"It wouldn't have made a difference Clark," Lois smiled back wryly, "You're too easy of a target. The clothes alone..."

"Thank you," he retorted sarcastically, his illusions of a nice Lois lying beneath her sarcastic exterior broken for the moment.

"You're welcome, Smallville. Now hurry. People are going to be getting up soon and I don't want them wondering how you and I suddenly appeared in Germany with no passports and no visible means of transportation."

Despite the tone that came with her words, Clark saw the logic in them; it wouldn't do at all to have the military-only a few kilometres down the road- arrest them for being there with no identification and no explanation as to how they got there. With this in mind, he lengthened his stride to keep up with Lois who, despite the many years it had been since she had been here seemed to know exactly where she was going.

"How did your Mom end up buried in Germany?" he asked as they entered the gates to the cemetery and started down the path towards the section reserved for officers families.

"She asked to be buried here. Something about this being her favourite place that Dad had had them move to," Lois said quietly, biting her lip softly after the words left her mouth, remembering the day that her mom had told her why Germany was her favourite place in the world.

It had been because of Lois, or more appropriately, the arrival of Lois into her parents lives.

Lois drew a breath and let it out, trying to stem the flood of tears that suddenly seemed imminent. Her parents had tried for years to have a baby but for some reason it had just never happened. Three months after they had been stationed at the base in Wiesbaden though, Ella Lane had discovered that she was pregnant. That time had apparently left such an impression on her mother that when it came for her to specify where she wanted her final resting place to be, she had immediately thought of Wiesbaden, Germany.

"Lois, are you alright?" Clark asked cautiously. He was certain he had heard a soft sniffle...

"Yeah," she cleared her throat. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Clark, would you stop worrying?" Lois let out a short laugh of exasperation, her tears forgotten for the moment. "I'm fine."

She searched the rows of gravestones for the ivory coloured one that marked the last resting place of her mother, finally finding it three spaces from the end of the last row.

"Do you want me to wait over there?" Clark stopped with her in front of the gravestone.

Lois looked him in the eye and raised an eyebrow, "Would it matter? You're gonna hear what I have to say whether you're standing over there or over here Mr. I-Have-Super-Hearing."

"I can turn it off Lois," he said. "Just say the word."

"You can do that?"

Clark nodded affirmatively, "I can."

Lois looked at him and sighed, "That would be great."

She watched as he turned to leave her and suddenly found herself calling out to him, "Smallville?"

Clark turned back to her, "Yes?"

"Thanks," she said softly. "For this, for…everything."

He smiled, "You're welcome Lois. I'll just be over by that big tree about four rows away, alright?"

"Um-hm," she murmured, watching as he walked away before turning back to the gravestone and sitting down in front of it.

"Hi," she said, settling herself on the slightly damp ground. She would have stains on her jeans when she got back up but for the moment, she didn't care. "It's me, Lois."

I don't know if you're still here or…if you're somewhere better," Lois cleared her throat, "Or even if you've gone to watch Dad over in Washington. He needs someone to look out for him and I kind of like the idea of you with him….maybe hiding his stogies like you used to do when Lucy and I were little."

She smiled at the memory before drawing a breath, letting the tears come now that Clark wasn't here to see her cry them, "But that's probably not where I need to start. I mean, I haven't been here since I was six. I should probably start somewhere else rather than making assumptions about your whereabouts," she brought a hand up to wipe away some of the tears, "I meant to come here earlier but….you chose a really inconvenient place to get to, Mom. Don't get me wrong, I know why you chose it. You told me why but honestly…way to pick an inaccessible spot. Getting from the States to Germany is not something I can do on a regular basis."

She let out a short laugh, bringing up a hand to wipe away the tears, "Lucy's doing well. She's back from Europe and, for the most part, it seems like she's straightened herself out; I'm not sure for how long but if Daddy has his way, I'm sure it'll be for at least a year."

"And as for Daddy, he's good too. Well, as good he CAN be. Since you died, he really hasn't been the same but I think with Lucy back she and I might have a better chance of snapping him out of it." She exchanged glances with the carved marble in front of her. "Fifteen years of mourning is enough I think. We might even be able to set him up on a blind date or two."

"And me…well, I'm very likely going to be joining you soon," she blew air through her lips in frustration. "You probably already knew that though."

"The fortune teller that Chloe took me to told me so and I know what you'd say to me about this, 'Lois, just because someone tells you something's true doesn't make it so,' but in this case, I think she's right." Lois paused again, adjusting her position on the ground, "She told me some…incredible things and they all came true."

"This is going to sound crazy but…." she cleared her throat, eying the gravestone and with one hand beginning to trace the outline of her mother's name, "Do you believe in life on other planets?"

She let out a laugh, her hand dropping from the stone. "I'm not sure how much you've seen wherever you are but Clark Kent, the guy who brought me here, is not exactly your average person." she paused, trying to think of the right words to describe him, let alone the way they had been treating each other lately. It was…an interesting relationship to say the least. "We're not friends but at the same time, he's my best friend. Not that I had many from which to choose a best friend. I guess he wins by default. Since the fortune teller told me that I was going to die, I've been seeing him in a new light. I'm not sure that that's a good thing."

She snorted in amusement at her understatement, "Scratch that. It's a VERY bad thing."

Running a hand through her hair, she looked around to make sure that Clark was far enough away, all the while praying that he was keeping his word and not listening in to her conversation.

What would he say if he knew that Lois Lane-the same Lois Lane he fought with on a daily basis-had been re-evaluating the hesitant friendship they had? She closed her eyes, trying to force the thoughts from her head. She was only thinking this way because she was going to die. It was as simple as that.

She looked back at the gravestone, "Maybe I should have talked to Martha Kent about this but, she's Clark's mom and I don't feel comfortable putting her in this kind of position. As for Chloe, well, Chloe's already speculating that there's something going on between Clark and I," she sighed. "She's wrong though. At the moment there's nothing going on."

She looked up at the sky, noting that it was beginning to grow light with the glow of impending dawn and chanced a glance at Clark from across the graveyard and smiled. He was currently taking advantage of the tree he was sitting against, and had fallen asleep. She looked at her watch, taking note that it was now almost 5:30 in the morning here.

"I have to go soon," she murmured to the gravestone in front of her, "It's early and if Clark and I stay here much longer someone's going to find us and start asking questions."

She sighed, fresh tears making their way to the forefront of her eyes and gathering at the corners of her eyes, "I think it was Daddy who told me that it's only the bodies of the dead that leave us, but the spirits live on with you. I really hope that's true too Mom because if it's not, then..."

She paused, letting a sob escape from her body before catching herself. She really should be going soon and she knew that if she started crying in earnest she might not be able to stop. "Suffice it to say, I miss you and I wish you were here."

She drew a large breath as she wiped tears off her face and got up off the ground, placing a hand on the gravestone in good-bye.

She was interrupted though by the sound of Clark's voice coming across the graveyard, "Lois! We've got company!"

"That's my cue to leave," she said softly to the stone. "I'll talk to you soon. I love you, Mom."

And with that, she turned to walk out of the graveyard.

"We have to get out of here," Clark caught up to her.

"Movement on the base?" she raised an eyebrow questioningly.

A new voice broke into the short conversation she was having with Clark, startling her at first and then replacing the feeling with weary dread. "You could say that."

Lois paused, shaking her head before looking up and crossing her arms at who was now standing in front of her, "Daddy. What are you doing here?"


	12. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: The General**

Lois took a breath to calm herself as she looked at her father and mentally began to concoct an explanation as to why-and how-she and Clark had ended up in a graveyard in Germany, "I thought you were in Washington."

The general levelled a glare at her, "I was, but the President needed me to go to the Middle East for a few days."

Lois looked around, confused and more than a bit angry that her father was here, "So….what? You just decided to take a day off and come to Germany?"

The General looked his eldest daughter in the eyes, trying to gauge what was wrong. Lois was normally obstinate in her conversations with him but years of living with his daughter had taught him to recognize when something was really wrong and this was one of those times. The girl was positively thrumming with negative energy, "Your sister called. She was worried about you.'

Lois sighed. She had forgotten about Lucy. "I'm fine Daddy. There's no need to worry about me."

"Still," Sam Lane shifted uncomfortably, trying to understand why his daughter was here in Germany. "You're here, and I'd like to know why. Not only are you on trespassing on military soil but I took the liberty of looking into flights that left Metropolis in the last day and you," he looked over at Clark, "or Clark here was on any of their flight manifests. Who did you call to get you here Lois?"

She rolled her eyes, inwardly weighing her options. Worst case scenario she could lie and say that Bruce Wayne, an old friend whom she had met in China one summer, had flown them over in his jet. This would easily explain how they had gotten to Germany so fast as well as giving them an easy out. Her father would, in all likelihood, drive them to the airport and from there, Clark could find them a dark corner and they would quickly fly back to the United States. Best case though-and she didn't want to rule this out just yet- she didn't have to explain anything to her father and he would let she and Clark go on their way without an interrogation.

Somehow she knew that it was not going to be as easy as the latter option .

She shrugged her shoulder's non-chalantly, "I really don't think it's any of your business but if you must know, I was visiting Mom's grave. As for the flight over here, Bruce owed me a favour."

Lois made a mental note to call Bruce as soon as possible and get him to log the necessary documents to prove that they had been flying with him that day.

The General looked at her sceptically, knowing for a fact that his daughter was lying to him. Why, he wasn't sure. It had been a regular question in Lois and Lucy's childhood whether they wanted to visit their mother's grave but the answer had always been 'no.' While Lucy had visited Germany several times since her mother's death, Lois had never been interested in visiting not only because of the distance, but also because she didn't like sad situations and she knew that going to see her mother would only depress her.

Or at least he thought this was the reason. Lois' version of grieving had always been different than the way most people grieved.

Regardless of his knowledge of his daughter's behaviour, the General was still confused. Lois had shown no interest in visiting her mother's grave in the past and he couldn't fathom why she would be starting now. But then, Lucy had told him that Lois was behaving oddly.

In front of him, Lois uncrossed her arms and put a hand on Clark's in what she hoped was a subtle signal that they had to leave. He looked over at her as if she was crazy and she rolled her eyes as she took in the annoyed look that was currently resting there. There was no way that Clark would help her make a break for it but Lois was willing to bet that she could find a way to give him an opportunity to get them out of Germany.

Now she just had to get her father to leave or drive them to the Airport…

"Bruce owed you a favour?" The General looked at her incredulous before starting to rifle through his jacket for a cigar. He finally found one and took it out, lighting it and looking back at his daughter and Clark Kent.

There was another mystery that had to be solved; what was Clark Kent doing with his daughter in a graveyard in Germany? This question, however, could wait. Lois was here in Germany having apparently travelled here to visit her mother's grave and, if he recalled how lax Bruce Wayne was when it came to flying his daughter around the world, he was pretty sure she hadn't informed why she needed the plane.

"Yeah," Lois said challengingly, breaking the General out of his thoughts, and answering the question about Bruce's returned favour, "And he's got the plane waiting for us at the airport so if you would just let us pass…"

"I don't think so, Lo," he shook his head negatively and drew on his cigar. "You and I need to talk about why you're here and then we'll concentrate on getting you and Mr. Kent here back to the States."

"Why?" she looked at him. "You don't need to know, I've got a handle on this, and honestly? It's probably better if you're not involved."

"And why is that?"

Lois licked her lips, looking away from her father, "Dad, you and I both know that Mom's death has just not been something we talk about so I sincerely doubt you want to hear why I'm here, let alone how many strings I had to pull to get me here on such short notice."

The General sighed and took another long drag from his cigar, feeling the smoke begin to calm him slightly, "Lois, call Bruce and let him know that you won't be taking that jet back to the States. It seems like you and I have some things to talk about and here is not the place to do it. Let me take you and Clark back to the Base."

"Lois," Clark nudged her shoulder after she fell silent in thought.

She turned, annoyed, "What, Clark?"

Clark drew a breath, crossing his arms. He had no idea how they were going to get out of this one but at this point, he was willing to try anything-even going to the Base with the General. "Your father has a point and going to the Base for awhile isn't going to cost us any time. Bruce said the plane would be ready for us anytime we wanted it."

It was Lois' turn to turn an incredulous gaze on him. He was lying to the General with her. Seeing his adamant face, she rolled her eyes. For all intents and purposes, Clark was her only way home and that meant she should probably listen to him for a little bit. It was for this reason that she turned back to her father and smiled as if it pained her, "Alright, Dad. But just for a bit. Clark and I have a plane to catch."

* * *

Clark paced the office that the General had brought he and Lois to, having come to the conclusion as they had entered-and he had observed exactly how many soldiers were stationed here at Wiesbaden-that there was no safe way out of the Base without either being seen flying away by a guard or, alternatively, being caught on tape by one of the many video cameras that were set up.

"Relax Clark," Lois murmured, a smirk on her face as she lounged in one of the plush leather chairs set up in the corner of the office.

He shook his head in disbelief at how well Lois was taking their situation, "Lois, there's no way off this Base, you know that right? I was looking for a way to on our way in and….there's no way."

"Yep," she crossed her arms, "Feeling sorry you agreed with Daddy now aren't you?"

Lois watched as Clark frowned harder if that were at all possible. A giggle escaped her, "Come on Clark, you can say it."

"Say what?" he sat down in the chair next to her and crossed his arms.

She looked him in the eye, "That I was right."

"You weren't right though," he shook his head, unwilling to admit that she might have been even a little bit right. That was just not the way his and Lois' relationship worked. She was never right, but neither was he. To admit to such a thing would go against everything they believed in.

Lois knew the rules but that didn't prevent her from trying to get him to break them.

Taking a breath, he continued, "If your father had taken us to the airport he would have found out that we didn't get your friend what's-his-name to fly us here on his jet." He crossed his arms, "And since when do you have friend's who can afford jet planes?"

"Well, you do," she said pointedly.

"No I don't," he shook his head. "Lex and I haven't been friends for a long time. It just took me longer that him to realize that."

"Well still. You had a multi-billionaire for a friend for a brief period of time so I don't think you should be asking how I came to be friends with one myself," she rolled her eyes, not willing to go into the intricacies of Clark's fallen friendship with Lex Luthor. She knew bits and pieces of the story from Chloe but she had no inclination to hear the whole story anytime soon. "The fact that I know him shouldn't shock you. My father's a highly decorated General you know. When I was moving around the world with him I met a lot of people you wouldn't expect a girl to meet."

"Where'd you meet him?"

Lois shot him an annoyed look and started rooting around in the small but intricately designed table that sat between the chairs that she and Clark were sitting in. "Does it matter?"

"No," he retorted defensively, "I'm just making small talk before your father gets back here and busts us for lying to him about this friend of yours. You know he's probably on the phone right now verifying our story."

"I met Bruce in China….." she said absently as she continued to search through the table, ignoring Clark's statement about her father verifying the story she had given him. She hoped there was a level of trust that would allow him to just believe her but she knew better. The General, for all his missing time in her life, knew her better than she knew herself sometimes and that included when she was lying, "Ah-ha!" she cried, lifting a small compartment in the table and removing a cigar. "Want one?"

He gave her a strange look, shaking his head negatively, "I don't smoke."

Lois shrugged, "Your loss. I've always wanted to try one of these."

"It's bad for you, Lois," he pointed out. "Really bad."

"So? I've got three days left to live and, as I said, I've always wanted to try these."

"How'd you know they'd be there?"

Lois shot him a wry grin, "My Dad used to be stationed here, remember? This used to be his office and when we left, he gave this," she pointed to the small table, "to the guy who took over for him as an office warming present. Daddy used to keep cigars in it and I took a chance that this guy would too."

Clark nodded in understanding before an appalled look took over his face, "So you just decided to steal from him then?"

"What, you think the General's just going to give me his?" she looked at him incredulously before letting out a snort, "Yeah right. Daddy doesn't do that, especially with his daughters. It's alright for him to get lung cancer but he wouldn't want his little girls to. That's how Mom died after all," she finished, picking up her purse and putting two of the cigars into it.

"Well, you still shouldn't smoke," he said.

"Probably not, but it's not going to stop me from trying one of those tonight," she sighed, placing her purse back on the floor. "So, what's the game plan?"

Clark rolled his eyes. Of course she'd think that he would be the one to get them out of this situation. Nevermind that she was the one who got them into it in the first place.

"Nothing?" her face fell a bit, "Jeez Smallville. You're the one who took Daddy up on his offer. I kind of hoped that you had put some kind of thought behind that decision."

"I thought it would be easier to get away from here than the airport. Less cameras."

Lois crossed her arms and sighed, tilting her head to the side, "That's a good theory. Wrong, but good. Any other ideas?"

Clark opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted as the door opened and the General stepped into the room.

"Comfortable kids?" he asked, not looking up from the file he was holding.

"Sure Daddy," Lois murmured, looking at her father as he brought another chair over and sat down next to her, "Now why'd you bring us here?"

The General shot her a chastising look and Lois had to tamp down the feelings of panic that rose up. He always made her feel eight or nine years old when he did that and at that point in her life, she had wanted to please her father….the look he had given her spelled disappointment and her inner nine year old wanted her father to be proud of her, not disappointed.

"Lois, you're in Germany and you shouldn't be. I thought you were going to inform me when you decided to skip the country again."

"Again?" Clark's eyebrows rose questioningly.

"It was just the one time…." Lois sighed, trying to explain to her father why she had left this time without explaining why she had left this time. "And this has nothing to do with the first trip."

"Really?" Sam Lane held up the file he was holding, "So it wasn't Bruce that got you out of the States last time?"

"I was looking for Lucy as you had instructed and how did you know it was Bruce?" Lois stared at the large file in her father's hands. "And what exactly is in that file?"

"Nothing you need to worry about Lo," he sighed. "Your sister has one too. It's just a way for me to keep track of what you're up to when you don't want me to talk to me."

Lois looked at her incredulously, "When WE don't want to talk to YOU? You're the one who has his secretary pick out his own daughter's Christmas presents every year." She drew a frustrated breath and tried to rein in her temper. "And you have a file on us?"

"Now Lois, I'm your father and, despite how you feel about me, I deserve a place in your lives," he sighed, clearing his throat and passing the file over to his eldest daughter. "But if you really want to see it, I guess I could let you."

Lois opened the file and started flipping through the pages, examining just how detailed they were. She closed it, tears beginning to flood her eyes as she turned to Clark, "Can you wait outside for me? I need to talk to my father privately for a moment."

"Sure Lois," he eyed her and the General warily as he stood up. "I'll just be on the bench outside the office. Call me if you need anything."

"Thanks Clark," she said softly, setting the file on the table that she had minutes ago extracted cigars from and watched as he left the room. She had a bone to pick with her father and she didn't want him in the room when she did it.


	13. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Discussions of a Revealing Nature**

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Lois asked in a low voice, free to talk now that Clark had left the room. "What right do you have to have this?"

"Now Lo, it's just a file…."

"It's not just a file," she said, picking it up and waving it at him accusingly. "This is my life and you have no right." She flipped it open to stare at the letterhead of the report at the front. "Hiring someone to follow me!"

The General sighed, regretting that he had shown her the file. He was never going to hear the end of this. The truth of the matter was that he had hired a private investigator to watch Lois because of her proximity to Lex Luthor. He knew from experience what kind of man he was and didn't want anything to happen to Lois.

As for Lucy, her file was nearly twice as thick as Lois' because of the sheer amount of private reports he had had to put in there. Lucy, after all, had always been unstable compared to Lois which is why he had sent her, and not his eldest daughter to boarding school where it was easier to keep and eye on her. The private investigator had come later but he had had to stay on Lucy for years. Lois had only needed that for one.

"Well, don't you have an explanation?" she demanded, breaking her father out of his thoughts as she sat the file back onto the table.

Sam looked at his daughter and shook his head negatively, "I wish I could say I did but I don't. I just wanted to know what you were up to Lois, to keep you safe."

"From what?" Lois leaned forward onto her elbows and stared incredulously at her father. "I live in Smallville for God's sakes. NOTHING happens there that would put me in any kind of danger."

"You'd be surprised," Sam murmured. "I know what kind of things happen there and I was concerned, so I hired someone to keep an eye on you for me. That's all. If I hadn't wanted you to know, you never would have but I thought I'd share this with you now."

"Why?" she asked, placing her head in her hands wearily before looking up. "Why did you feel you needed to do this to me, to Lucy? You could have just picked up a telephone…"

"Would you have answered? Would you have returned my calls?" The General pointed out, "And would you have answered truthfully if I had asked you how school was, how were Gabe and Chloe," he paused, "You wouldn't have Lois and that's a fact. You won't understand this now but someday you will. I'm your father and I care about you and want you safe."

"And under observation!" Lois cried, settling herself back in her chair in a slump as she thought about what her father had been doing to be part of her life since she had stopped travelling with him around the world. He was right though; if he had been calling as frequently as he appeared to want to she wouldn't have taken his messages, would have started screening his calls. She snorted lightly, drawing the attention of her father, who raised an eyebrow questioningly. She looked up and pursed her lips, "We're really messed up if this is the way we have to communicate."

"We don't have to, Lo," the General puffed on the last of his cigar.

"I'm afraid I'd put several dozen private investigators out of business if we operated any other way though," she tried to crack a joke and was rewarded with a smile. She drew a breath and looked down at her hands. "So….do I want to know how big Lucy's file is?"

Sam looked at her speculatively, "About twice as big as yours."

Lois looked at her father, returning his gaze. She shouldn't be feeling jealousy about this particular subject-he was spying on his own daughters after all-but she couldn't help feeling the familiar sibling rivalry that existed between her sister and herself flare up. Why did Lucy get such a big file and she didn't? "And why is that?"

He shrugged, "Well, your sister's been away at boarding school longer than you've been away from me. I've also had to hire more people to keep track of her; you're more stable and stay in one place for longer than she does. Gabe also has kept me informed of what you're up to so I haven't needed to hire anyone lately." He eyed her and smirked, "Although I might have to re-evaluate whether or not to hire someone to follow you around again if you keep spontaneously deciding to flee the States the way you have been."

"This is only the second time I've done this," Lois pointed out, crossing her arms. "And it's not like I haven't been well protected. Bruce IS a billionaire you know. Last time, he came with me." She furrowed her brow, "And Lucy's done it several more times than I have yet somehow I always get caught and she doesn't."

"And now you understand why her file's twice as big as yours," Sam put out his cigar in the ashtray that sat on the table between them.

"Yeah, well," Lois sighed. "You've always had a soft spot in your heart for Lucy,"

The General looked at her as if she was insane, "What? I love both my girls equally. Where'd you get a crazy idea like that from?"

"Oh come on Daddy," Lois said indulgently, "You know you've always loved Lucy best. Sending her to boarding school, all the lessons….the pony you got her…."

Sam rolled his eyes. Had Lois actually been thinking this way? He leaned forward in his chair and settled his elbows on his knees, meeting his eldest daughters gaze and holding it, "You two are very different people and you lead very different lives. When I asked you if you wanted to go to boarding school when you were 8 years old, Lois, you begged me not to send you; you wanted to stay with me. Lucy had a different answer and, though I was sad to see her go, I recognized that she needed stability. You didn't. You liked to travel and to meet new people. She never did. As for the lessons….you were always more content to make friends with people who could teach you something. I never had to send you to piano lessons, or swimming lessons, because you always managed to find the best person for the job on whatever base we were on and they would teach you for free because you were so cute they couldn't say no to you." He sighed, "And as for the pony, you never asked for one. If you had, I probably would have got it for you."

He looked at his watch, "What time did you say you had to be out of here?"

"I didn't," she said softly, absorbing what her father had told her. Despite what her suspicious brain was telling her-that she shouldn't trust a man who spied on her so completely that every aspect of her life was in a file-she DID believe him and he WAS right; if she had let him into her life than he probably wouldn't have needed to hire anyone to follow her around, or to recruit Uncle Gabe to keep an eye out for her.

And as for her sister…well…Lois knew that she and Lucy were highly competitive so she knew the rivalry would probably never completely go away-and she didn't want it to- but now she had the answer to some of the supposed favouritism she had been feeling over the years.

"Oh," her father's voice broke her out of her thoughts, "Well, I have to head back to the Middle East soon but….if you and Clark wanted, I suppose you could join me."

Lois grinned, letting out a short laugh, "Thanks Daddy but…..this was only meant to be a short trip. You've got meetings to go to and you don't need me or Clark hanging around getting into trouble. Besides, I've always found the Middle East dry this time of year."

The General nodded, a smile to match Lois' own on his face at the banter that she was exchanging with him. She hadn't done that in years.

He stood, knowing that he had to leave if he wanted to make the meetings the President had wanted him to attend, and watched as Lois did the same. "Are you planning on leaving immediately, or are you going to go spend some more time with your mother?"

Lois looked at him quizzically, "I thought you wanted me out of the country, Daddy…"

"I think you've proven to me that your reasons for being here are honourable," he raised an eyebrow, "Besides, your mother's a good listener."

"You come here often then?"

Sam went silent a moment, "Whenever I can."

Lois nodded, ignoring the tears that had suddenly sprung up in her eyes at the love and sadness she had seen in her father's eyes at that moment, "Yeah, well, I thought I might go back for awhile. Drag Clark along."

"He's a good friend to you," Sam Lane said quietly, fishing for information concerning the state of his daughter's and Clark Kent's relationship. When he had first met the Kent boy, his daughter had hated him so he had been confused when he had seen that it had been Clark to accompany his daughter to Germany. Chloe would have been a more logical choice.

Lois, hearing the question in her father's voice, smiled knowingly, "Yeah, he is. But that's all he is if that's what you're asking."

The General raised his hands defensively, "I didn't say anything."

"Sure you did."

He sighed, "Did you need a car to take you to the airport after you're finished with the graveyard?"

Lois shook her head negatively, "No. We'll call a cab. I've got my cell phone with me."

He nodded, and reached into his pocket for his wallet, taking out several large bills and handing them to his daughter.

"Daddy!"

"Lois, indulge me. I'm your father, and a little extra cash never hurt anyone. Take advantage of Bruce's generosity and stop in Paris or something if it makes you feel better," he put his wallet back into his pocket before reaching over and picking up the file from the table. "Now, the Base knows you're here and if you need anything, they've been instructed to give it to you. Transportation, whatever."

His daughter, who knew better than to fight him on this issue, reached down and picked up her purse and slipped the money into her wallet before putting the whole thing over her shoulder in preparation to leave. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

They moved toward the door.

"This doesn't make the fact that you've been spying on Lucy and I for years better, you know," she said pointedly.

"Of course not," he murmured with a smile.

"But I am going to stop screening your calls."

"So you admit you've been doing that?"

She shrugged, "Well, Mom used to. I learned from the best at a young age."

"She did?" the General looked surprised.

"Well, you called about 3 times a day to make sure we were okay Daddy. I think that's a little excessive."

The General opened the door and held it for his daughter, "I just love my girls."

Lois met his eyes and smiled, seeing for the first time that things between her father and herself were going to be alright, "And we love you too. Don't ever forget that."

She rose up on her toes to hug her father, kissing him on the cheek.

He hugged her back and dropped an identical kiss on her cheek, "I'll see you soon Lo."

"Count on it," she extricated herself from his arms and watched as he headed off down the hall to the helicopter that she knew was waiting to take him to the airport.

"What was that about?" Clark asked with a weirded out expression on his face, having seen this uncharacteristic exchange between father and daughter from his position on the bench.

"That was me making peace with my father," Lois murmured, knowing Clark could hear her despite her soft words.

"He's leaving then?"

"Yep," she turned to Clark and grabbed his hand, pulling him off the bench and starting down the hall in the opposite direction her father had went.

"So what's the plan then? Are we being followed?"

"Not that I know of. Now come on, we're going back to the graveyard and as soon as the coast is clear, we're getting out of here."

Clark simply followed Lois out of the building, confused but strangely comfortable in his confusion. At least one of them knew what they were doing…"

"Sir?" one of the soldiers who was assisting Sam Lane out to the helicopter broke through the silence that the General had been enjoying since he had walked away from his daughter. "Did you want us to follow your daughter and her friend?"

"No," Sam shook his head. "Let them go but if they need anything, give it to them."

"Yes sir."

"Oh," Sam suddenly remembered something. "And I don't want any soldiers within a kilometre of the cemetery for the next two hours."

"Yes sir. I'll make sure it happens."

The General nodded and climbed into the helicopter. The door closed and he settled himself further back in his seat, mulling over what had happened in the past hour. He opened the file on Lois and sighed, remembering her reaction to it. He was satisfied and relieved now that he hadn't put the most important report in the file on Lois.

He hadn't been lying when he had told his daughter that he knew of the strange things that happened in Smallville. Some of the strange……people. He had a feeling that she wouldn't approve of just how much he knew. After all, only a handful of people REALLY knew what was happening in that town and this was why he had given the order to keep the cemetery clear for two hours.

It wouldn't do, after all, for the whole world to know that Clark Kent could fly.


	14. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Paris Part 1**

"Do you want to tell me why, of all the places you could have chosen for us to stop, you chose Paris? Why not Spain? Italy? Greece even? We could have had baklava…" Clark commented, an eyebrow raised as he landed softly with Lois in his arms. He looked around at the small park he had seen from a distance. It was quiet and most importantly, not very busy which meant that he and Lois could land without fear that someone was going to find out that men-at least men from other planets-could fly.

The graveyard in Germany had been surprisingly quiet and so, after ten minutes of making sure they were really alone, they took off for home. Lois however, had had other ideas and, as soon as they were airborne, had voiced a need to go to France. Clark had agreed almost absentmindedly. After all, he had never been to France. Now he was curious though. Why had Lois chosen this particular place to stop in before their trip home?

Lois smirked and hopped out of his arms, holding tightly to his shoulders while her legs gained feeling again from the short trip, "Because I wanted to go see the Eiffel Tower one more time before I die and I don't like baklava, that's why. We can have pastry here, Clark, if that's what you're after."

Clark crossed his arms, ignoring her comment about seeing the Eiffel Tower before she died-he STILL didn't think that that was actually going to happen but he had stopped trying to convince her otherwise. She believed the fortune-teller had been right and there wasn't anything he had been able to say or do to make her believe that she wasn't, "You know, you really don't strike me as an Eiffel Tower type of person Lois. Isn't it a little too touristy for you?"

Lois shrugged and started walking through the park, trying to block the rapidly ticking countdown to her death-day out of her mind. It would do no good to waste time thinking about it; she firmly believed that she should be leaving this world happy if she was going to have to leave it at all and those kind of thoughts only led to depression and misery. She looked over at Clark, taking note that the sun-whether it was on a farm in Kansas or in the middle of Paris-made him look more alive and her heart fluttered unexpectedly. She was going to die in two and a half days and she didn't want to start something she couldn't finish. In regards to Clark and her sudden observance of small things like the way sunlight made him look…well…she had a feeling that these kind of half-conscious utterances on her brains part could only lead to trouble. Whatever she started with him was going to be more than a two day thing and even with her newly acquired 'inhibitions to the wind' attitude, she didn't know if two days would be enough. She cleared her throat and made a vow to herself to grow back some of her inhibitions today…. "Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do, Smallville."

He looked at her as if he were making an assessment, "Oh, I know I don't. That's what's fun about this little trip we're taking. I'm learning a lot. According to you, I've got about 3 days left to do it in so I figure I should work fast," Clark murmured, gracing her with a small smile as he walked next to her. She looked back at him and for a moment he could swear he say something there, a small part of Lois that he had seen falling away in the past days build itself back up flimsily.

He must have said something wrong….

Feeling suddenly uncomfortable at how uninhibited he had let himself become around her, he changed the subject, "So this is France then..."

"It's actually less than that," Lois cleared her throat, "According to Madame Rosalind, I have about 2 and a half days left and yes, this is France," she breathed out through her nose as she stopped trying to fool herself and subconsciously allowed the ticking clock to resume its death tolls in her brain. Back to business then. The walls were up, the clock was ticking and she could almost feel the old Lois Lane (the one who was too stubborn to admit that she actually liked it when people took care of her, as her father and now Clark had done today) re-emerge.

"And clichéd as it is," she continued defensively, 'I wanted to come here. There's just something about it. Hey, you want to go to the Louvre while we're here?"

"Sure," Clark shrugged, furrowing his brow as he tried to figure out what was going on in Lois' head. One minute he thought he knew her and the next…she was on a completely different plain of existence, "Whatever you want to do. It's not like I have anywhere I have to be."

Lois smirked in his direction and met his eyes, "You're such a liar. We both have classes we're missing today and you know it."

"Well, this is more important anyways. We can tell our professors we had a family emergency or something."

She crossed her arms and let out a laugh at this, "You know, I think I've finally managed to corrupt you, Clark Kent. Look at you…skipping class to go to Paris and not even caring."

"I know," he sighed, a playful edge to his voice. He was glad that they weren't dwelling on Lois' belief that she was going to die. It tended to make her sad and for some reason, Clark didn't want her to feel this way. She was hiding her feelings at the moment behind the now familiar exterior he had gotten used to in Smallville, but he felt assured that he had seen enough of the real Lois in the last few days to get past her defences again, "You're a horrible influence on me."

They fell into an uncomfortable silence as both tried to figure out what the other was thinking without actually asking each other and, almost unconsciously, they found themselves holding hands as they walked.

Suddenly, the uncomfortable silence wasn't so uncomfortable.

Lois would later remember the day she spent in Paris with Clark as one of the most special days of her life (although she wouldn't be telling him that). In the end, it hadn't been the fact that they had gone to the Louvre (which she hadn't been to in years) or the time they had spent at the Eiffel Tower, making fun of some of the more colourful tourists from the safety of a bench off to the side. Nor had it been because of the excellent dinner they had had on the patio of one of the small cafés. No, Lois would remember the experience because that had been the day she had finally gotten to know Clark Kent, and surprisingly, she had let him get to know her. Indeed, her hastily re-erected walls had lasted through the Louvre but by the time they had reached the Eiffel Tower, they had been laid waste by the fact that Clark Kent, for all his talk about needing to get to know her better, now knew her well enough to be able to say exactly the right thing to make her smile when she didn't want to.

"Are you done with that?" Lois asked slyly, pointing with her fork towards the half-eaten piece of cheesecake that Clark had left on his plate. She watched as he took a sip of his coffee and looked at her with an amused expression on his face. "What?"

"Nothing," he put his cup down and pushed his plate of dessert over to her side of the table.

"Yeah right Smallville. You just made a 'something' face, not a 'nothing' face so now you need to share what you were thinking," she took a bite of the cheesecake and groaned quietly as it practically melted in her mouth. She would give the French credit where it was due; they certainly did dessert better than anyone else on the planet.

Clark shifted uncomfortably in his chair, the smile on his face falling a bit as he watched Lois enjoy her food. Enjoying it too much in his opinion but then again, she didn't normally have such an effect on him. He had promised himself that he wouldn't do this to himself anymore though. Lois was vulnerable right now and he knew for a fact that the day after Madame Rosalind's prediction didn't come true that she would be back to her old self and everything that had happened between them in the past few days would suddenly be reduced to nothing but mind tricks and empty words.

Maybe it was just the city, or maybe it was the frame of mind he had been in for days now, but watching her do anything since they had arrived in Paris had been an entirely erotic experience. He felt like he was 14 again and noticing girls for the first time only this time, he was noticing only one girl and she was turning him on far more than any of the female population of Smallville ever had. Something had changed…shifted….in Lois' demeanour in the last few days and that feeling he had been getting around her-that comfy, homey stay-in-bed-all-day-just-because-you-can feeling-had only grown. She made him feel comfortable in his own skin yet at the same time, challenged him like no one else did and he found himself wanting to pass these tests with flying colours. She made him want to be a better man and that, he had found, was perhaps the sexiest thing he had ever experienced.

Lois, the true Lois he had been seeing for almost 6 days now, was completely changing his opinion on what type of girl he was looking to spend the rest of his life with.

He shook his head in bewilderment. Where had that last thought come from?

"Clark?" Lois looked at him in concern. He hadn't answered her last question and she feared that she might have overstepped a boundary. Normally that didn't bother her but tonight had been so great she found herself not wanting to fight with him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he nodded, breaking himself out of his thoughts and looking at her. "I'm fine."

She raised an eyebrow, not surprised in the least that Smallville was acting weird. Even with the alien excuse he was weird and he always had been, "Are you sure?"

"Um-hm," he took the last sip of coffee and smiled at her, noticing as he did so that Lois had polished off the last of his cheesecake and appeared ready to either order another coffee or move onto something else. "So what's next then?"

She raised an eyebrow in surprise. She would have assumed that Clark would have been ready to drop about now. After all, not only had they been going non-stop since they had gotten up that morning (ignoring, of course, their short nap after her bout of stomach issues), but he had been the one flying them around. Apparently super powers had their perks because he didn't look tired at all. Her mind immediately went into the gutter with that last thought and she found herself blushing as she began to ponder exactly how far Clark's…. take him.

The ring of her cell phone dragged her mind out of the very dirty gutter it had gotten itself in though, "Hello?" she said into the phone, not sure whether to be grateful or angry at whomever was on the other end. Clark Kent's 'stamina' would most definitely be something she would be thinking about later in greater detail…

"Lois, do you want to explain to me why Alfred took a message from your father today about my apparently irresponsible lending out of jets?"

"Bruce!" she exclaimed, a laugh escaping her, "How are you?"

"Alright. How's Germany?"

"Er," she looked around at her surroundings that were most definitely not of the German variety. "Well, we're kind of in Paris now and I'm sorry about the General phoning you. I had to make an emergency trip to Wiesbaden and you were the first scapegoat I came up with."

"Uh-huh."

Lois noted that Bruce still sounded like he found this funny so she took it as a good sign. She listened as he continued.

"Well don't worry. Alfred covered for you. Did you need anything while you're in Paris? I happen to have a few connections there…."

Lois leaned forward onto the table, making herself comfortable and watched as Clark watched her out of the corner of her eye, "Where DON'T you have connections, Bruce?" She listened as he let out a chuckle from his end of the line, "No, we're fine. I figured we'd go get some hotel rooms for the night but tomorrow morning, we're leaving for Smallville."

Clark raised an eyebrow, not knowing if she was spinning a tale for Bruce so he wouldn't check up on her, or if she was serious. It wasn't that he minded staying in Paris for the night it was just that he didn't know what would happen between him and Lois if they did. They were both attracted to the other, had openly been flirting with the other off and on throughout the past few days and she had even asked him to have sex with her.

Lois was vulnerable right now and they really shouldn't but at the end of the day, Clark knew for a fact that if she asked again, this time sober, he probably wouldn't say no. He wouldn't be making the first move, that was for certain, but if she did, he couldn't guarantee that the voice inside his head that told him that it was wrong, that he shouldn't be thinking this way about Lois because of the belief she had that she was going to die, was going to be drowned out by all the other feelings she had been producing in him.

"We?" Lois could almost hear Bruce's smirk from across the Atlantic.

She sighed, "Daddy didn't tell you? Clark came with me."

"Clark Kent? The same Clark Kent that you found naked in that field when you were looking into Chloe's murder? Clark Kent, the one you hate?"

"I don't hate him. Not anymore anyways," she said defensively and shot Clark a look as he began to laugh.

"Uh-huh," Bruce laughed, sighing after a moment, "Well, let me do you and Clark a favour. I'll take care of your hotel situation tonight. I'll make a few calls and get back to you, alright?"

Lois smiled, knowing better than to argue with Bruce but trying anyway, "Bruce, are you sure? It's not necessary…"

"Sure it is. I still owe you for that time you got us out of that fight in China, don't I?"

"Well, yeah. But I wasn't actually going to take you up on that I.O.U you know. It was enlightened self-interest; I didn't want to die and you were a means to that end."

"Call it a birthday gift if you want to then."

She sighed, "Alright. Thank you."

"I'll get back to you in a few minutes."

"Talk to you soon, Bruce," she murmured, hanging up the phone and smiling at Clark across the table. "Bruce is taking care of our hotel accommodations tonight."

"He is?" Clark leaned forward curiously, "And why's that?"

Lois shrugged, "I saved his life once or twice. Got him out of this bar fight in China that he was clearly outnumbered in. He's going to call back when he has everything ready for us."

Clark raised an eyebrow, "Ready for us?"

"I've stopped asking questions where Bruce is concerned," Lois replied, shrugging her shoulders and motioning for the waitress to bring them their check. Like most of the day, this meal was being paid for with the generous amount of money that her father had slipped her at the base. Although Clark had objected at first (Lois had assumed correctly that Clark was an old-fashioned type of man who, when he was out with a woman, wanted-felt obligated even-to pay for everything), she had eventually convinced him that a) he had been good enough to transport them over here and that alone entitled him to a free ride but b) her father had told her to stop somewhere and spend the money she had been given.

Her phone rang again as the waitress slipped the check onto the table.

"Hello?"

"A limo should be pulling up any moment for you."

Lois' jaw dropped and Clark sent her a questioning look, "He's sending a limo," she mouthed and Clark's eyebrows lifted.

"This limo will take you to the Hotel Meurice and you'll be spending the evening in the Belle Etoile Suite."

"Bruce," Lois sputtered into the phone. "Are you serious? You do realize how expensive that is don't you?"

"Most expensive Suite in Paris right now. Don't worry about it. I owe you, remember?"

"But Bruce…."

"Lois, don't ask questions. Just enjoy. You can thank me later." And with that, he hung up, leaving Lois to stare in bewilderment at the phone.

"What happened?" Clark asked, taking from Lois' shocked expression that something unexpected had just happened. He watched as she put the phone away, laid some money down for the check and stood.

"You'll see," she murmured, slipping her purse over her shoulder and taking his hand. They exited the patio area and stood, waiting for the limo that Bruce had sent.

"Lois?" he tried again.

"Um-hm?"

"Where exactly are we going?"

Lois looked him in the eye as the limo pulled up and the driver came around to hold the door open for them, "How do you feel about spending the night in the most expensive suite in Paris, Clark?"

Clark raised his eyebrows and looked at her in bewilderment, "Are you serious?"

"That's what I said too," she murmured, smiling at him now although if he could read her mind, he probably would have noticed how absolutely terrified she was to be alone with him: really alone as in alone-in-a-hotel-room alone. Nothing was going to happen unless she wanted it to happen; she knew this for a fact. Clark respected her and wasn't expecting anything out of her besides friendship. What's more, he would probably be volunteering himself for the couch tonight if this suite didn't have a second bedroom which she thought it probably did. The problem she was having was that, in letting go of all of her inhibitions, she had started allowing herself to think-really think-about her relationship with Clark and the question that she had been left with revolved around whether or not it would be such a bad thing if she let something happen between them.

Even the ultimate horizontal something that would either destroy their friendship or re-shape it into something ten times as good as what they had before.

She cleared her throat and tried to look positive, "Apparently Bruce is serious though. Now get in. I hear the bathtubs at this place are huge and I don't know about you, but I desperately need to get rid of all the smog we flew through on our way here."

Clark smiled nervously back, looking at her speculatively and watched as she entered the limo. He followed, all the while knowing exactly why a blush had accompanied her comment about the bathtub and getting more and more concerned. This was either going to be the end of something wonderful or the start of something even better.


	15. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Paris Part 2**

Lois eased herself out of the tub of bubbles she had been soaking herself in for the past hour and looked up at the elaborately constructed ceiling of the bathroom in the Belle Etoile Suite of the Hotel Meurice. When Bruce had told her he had gotten them an evening in the most expensive hotel room in Paris, he hadn't been joking. Upon arrival, they had been escorted to the suite by their own private butler and that had been just the beginning.

She reached for a towel and began to dry off, her mind on the bottle of complimentary champagne that was currently in a bucket of ice on the terrace, chilling. She dried the last of the water off her body and grabbed the plush bathrobe from the small table that sat next to the bath, wrapping herself in it before venturing out of the room and into the bedroom.

"Clark?" she called, opening the glass door to the terrace.

"I'm out here…" he replied. Lois stepped out into the night and walked over, leaning against the railing next to him.

"Now you see why I chose Paris?" she asked softly, not breaking her gaze from the cityscape.

"Yeah," he murmured in a soft voice, "It's pretty amazing…"

"Um-hm," she turned, taking in the fact that he was also wearing one of the bathrobes. "Do I have to ask why you're only wearing one of those or can I assume that you decided to try out the huge bathtub I saw in the second bedroom?"

"Not the bathtub. The multiple showerheads in the shower were really more of a draw for me than bubbles….." he said, a twinkle of humour in his eyes as he turned to look at her. "And the bathrobe was a necessity. The butler asked if I wanted our clothes washed seeing as we only appeared to have the one set each so I let him take them."

"So….we won't have any clothes until the morning?" Lois tried to keep the note of panic out of her voice but felt that she didn't quite achieve her goal. She was no stranger to sleeping naked. In fact, during the summer months she preferred it but, even though there was a second bedroom that Clark would be sleeping in tonight, she didn't feel comfortable doing that here, with his own naked body only paces away in the other room….

"No, he promised them back in about three hours," Clark shrugged, raising an eyebrow, "Was that okay? I just thought you might want something clean to fly home in tomorrow."

"Yeah, that's fine," she cleared her throat, and turned, walking over to the small table where the champagne was. "Do you want some champagne?"

"Lois," Clark walked over to the table and stood next to her, lifting the champagne from the bucket and taking off the wrapper, "Are you sure you're alright? I mean the bathrobes cover a lot. It's not like we're walking around naked."

"Its fine," she watched him struggle with the cork for a moment before taking the bottle and expertly removing it. "Guess your superpowers don't extend to opening bottles, do they Smallville?"

"Guess not," he furrowed his brow in confusion. He knew the sexual tension had been bothering both of them but he had made a promise to himself not to push anything on her tonight due to her fragile state of mind. In a few days, once this prediction business was over with, than it would be appropriate for him to make a move but until then he wasn't going to do anything. When the butler had come into the suite with extra towels and a tray of chocolate covered strawberries that 'Mr. Wayne had requested he bring up,' and asked if they wanted their clothes laundered, Clark had said yes because of the reasons he had told Lois: clean clothes would be nice for the trip home tomorrow. There had been no ulterior motives involved.

He got the feeling that Lois felt differently though.

"What are those?" Lois asked, breaking him out of his thoughts as she poured the champagne.

"Um, chocolate covered strawberries. The butler brought them in before he took out the laundry. I guess Bruce wanted them sent up to us."

Lois rolled her eyes and sat down, taking a sip of her champagne and sighing as the smooth tastes spilled over her tongue. This was the good stuff…. "Yeah, that sounds like Bruce."

"He sends strawberries to everyone then?" Clark sat down and took a sip of his own champagne.

Lois let out a laugh and began to look through the basket of goodies on the table. She didn't know how to tell Clark that Bruce's 'gifts' were simply one more tool to get them into bed with each other. She knew her friend well enough to recognize a Bruce Wayne set-up when she saw one. She cleared her throat and looked harder through the basket for a neutral activity. She passed over the chocolate body paint that she was sure was not part of the standard package, just as the strawberries weren't either, and reached for the pack of cards she was looking for, "No.. Strawberries are just for special circumstances. You and I apparently fall under that category." She pulled out the cards and held them up triumphantly, "Excellent."

"A deck of cards?"

She nodded, glad they were into neutral territory now. No more thinking about bathrobes, chocolate covered strawberries or edible body paint. This was not to say that she wouldn't enjoy these items (it was a little known fact, after all, that some days Lois didn't get out her bathrobe, strawberries were her favourite fruit, and, under different circumstances, licking chocolate off of Clark's body and vice-versa would be a highly enjoyable pursuit) but she preferred not to think of that now.

"Yep," she cleared her throat and opened the deck of cards. "What else did you think we were going to do tonight? Watch TV? We can do that in Kansas, Smallville; this view's only going to be here for our personal use for an evening. We can play cards out here and enjoy Paris…."

"What are we playing for?" Clark asked suspiciously before he could stop himself.

She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, "Well we can't play strip poker, now can we? Someone managed to give away our clothing for the next three hours."

She watched as he blushed before taking pity on him, "Relax Clark. I figured we'd just play cards and talk. I realized as I was lying in that bathtub that I've been doing most of the talking since I met you and now, especially after your big confession about your heritage, I've come to the realization that I know next to nothing about you. I want to fix that and now's as good of a time as any to do it.

"Is this because you believe you're going to die?"

"No," she shook her head, "It's just that since I discovered your little secret, I've been curious about what makes you tick, Clark Kent."

"Alright," he leaned back in the chair, setting his half-empty glass on the table and crossing his arms, "But I'm going to warn you up front; I'm not that interesting."

She let out a snort of laughter, "Yes because people with your kind of 'gifts' are a dime a dozen…."

He smiled self-deprecatingly, "Okay, so maybe I'm a little interesting but I really don't think it's going to take up all evening to talk about my life."

She shrugged, "So we'll switch topics then. Now let's hear it Smallville. I want to know everything because I'm fairly certain I got the abridged version the other night."

"Well, you got the five-minute version of everything at least," he sighed. "It's really too complicated a story for five minutes and that's all we had at the time but alright, if you want it, here we go….."

He began to talk as Lois shuffled the deck of cards and began to deal them out.

"So you're saying that you can't get drunk?" Lois raised her right eyebrow incredulously, their card game long forgotten. "Seriously?"

Clark nodded, taking the last sip of his champagne and reaching for the bottle. In deference to Lois and her position as a) a person who could actually feel the alcohol and b) as a person who thought she only had two days left to live, he had taken his time with the first and second glasses, leaving it mostly for her consumption. It had helped that he had been the one doing most of the talking…"I metabolize the alcohol too fast for it to do anything for me."

Lois blinked at him and reached over to take the bottle from his hand. She poured another glass for him before topping up her own, "Well that really sucks. You can't even get the tiniest of buzzes from anything?"

He shook his head negatively, "Nope. I enjoy the taste sometimes though. The tequila wasn't bad…"

"You didn't feel any of it though…"

"Well, that night at the bar wasn't about feeling the alcohol. It was about making sure you didn't drink too much," he said softly, taking one of the remaining strawberries from the platter and sticking it in his mouth.

Lois smiled softly and ran a hand through her hair, "Yeah….thank you for that by the way."

"Any time, Lois," he looked at her and laid a hand down on the table, brushing his fingers accidentally across hers.

She drew a breath, noticing the way his hand was almost on top of hers and looked at him with one eyebrow raised. She had come to the realization about halfway through the evening that the only way they were going to get through the next few hours without something happening was if they stopped treating each other the way they had been all day, meaning that the small touches, the meaningful looks, were immediately going to have to come to a standstill. They were nearly holding hands at the table now and that went against Lois' earlier decision.

Lois found herself unable to care though, as she gave in and let her fingers tangle with Clark's own. She cleared her throat, "There has to be some perks though. Do you ever get a chance to lose yourself in something?"

She inwardly cursed herself at the way the words had just come out. She was trying to dampen the unresolved sexual tension, not add more fuel to the fire, and this line of questioning was only going to lead to frustration for both of them.

Clark looked her in the eye and smirked. He had no idea what game she was playing but at the moment, he was willing to play along. He tightened his grip on her hand, his thumb caressing the side of her hand unconsciously, "Sure. But there are ramifications that come with it. I can feel the way you described being drunk but it's really more like being on drugs I guess. More dangerous. The red meteor rocks make me feel that way."

"Wait," Lois sat down her glass and took a strawberry from the tray with her free hand, "RED meteor rocks? I thought there were just green ones…"

"Nope," he shook his head, and tried not to notice the way her lips moved over the strawberry as she took a bite, "Let's see…there's green, red, black, silver, and I don't know how many other colours."

She moved what was left of the strawberry away from her mouth, taking a moment to process what he had just said, chewed, and swallowed, "You live in a very strange world, Clark Kent."

"You can say that again," he murmured, "The summer I ran away I was on red kryptonite nearly the whole time and when I married Alicia, I was on it then too but to be completely honest, that time was her fault…"

"What about the time Chloe got infected with that thing from the caves?" Lois leaned forward at the table, sipping her champagne lightly, her hand-still attached to his-moving up to the height of her chin. Clark unconsciously mimicked her actions. He barely avoided swearing out loud as the movement her body had made moved the 'V' of the bathrobe on Lois' body to such a low point that he could, if he so chose, get quite a good look at her cleavage.

He began to repeat his oath to not think of her in that way like a mantra but that didn't stop him from looking.

He cleared his throat, eager to distract himself with conversation of some sort-even the embarrassing kind that came with any talk of him on red K…"How'd you know about that?"

She shrugged and tugged her robe tighter around her with one hand.

Clark drew a breath of relief as the 'V' closed enough to make his eyes stop ogling what he knew he shouldn't be looking at.

"Chloe told me."

"I thought she didn't remember any of that," he said in a shocked voice.

"Chloe remembers more than you think. Mind you she's only remembered bits and pieces of it, but still….' Lois smirked at him, "Heard you tried to go for third base right in the Talon."

"That was Pete's fault," he said defensively, blushing as he remembered.

"Right. Pete's fault," she murmured teasingly.

"Lois…."

"Clark, I'm just teasing you," she shook her head, marvelling at how serious he took everything concerning his origins. She didn't blame him. Based upon the story he had told her that evening, his parents and he had been through a lot to keep his secret a secret and she understood shy; if anyone with less than Clark's best interests in mind found out about it, who knew what would happen?

She drained the rest of her glass and reached for the champagne bottle again, "Do you want some more?"

Clark shook his head, "No. You can finish it off. I can't get drunk, remember?"

Lois let out a snort, "And you think I do this easily?"

"No, I know you don't. You're the same woman who I helped go through almost two bottles of tequila a few nights ago so I know for a fact that this isn't doing nearly what it would to another person."

"Good," she filled her glass with the dregs of the bottle and took a small sip. "Just as long as you're aware of that," She sighed, letting out a tired yawn, "Do you know what time it is?"

Clark tilted their still entwined hands and took a look at his watch, "A little after 2."

"Do you think the Butler's brought back out clothes yet? I'm getting tired and I'd like something more to sleep in than this robe…."

Clark cleared his throat and stood up, trying not to picture what Lois would look like sleeping naked. "I don't know. I'll go check.

"Thanks Smallville," she murmured, letting go of his hand so he could go back into the Suite to check on their clothes. She was surprised at how cold she felt as he let go…

With a sigh, she stood up, grabbing the last strawberry off the tray and popping it into her mouth before following Clark into the room. "Did he bring them back?"

"Yep," Clark handed her a stack of freshly laundered clothes.

Lois breathed out a sigh of relief, draining the last of the champagne from the glass she still carried, "Good. Something to sleep in."

"Yeah," Clark nodded awkwardly. The gentle sounds of Paris filtered into the room and for a moment, they looked at each other and the world slipped away….

"Well alright then," she murmured, breaking the silence and meeting his eyes congenially, tilting a smile in his direction. "We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow so I think it's time for bed. Goodnight Clark."

"Goodnight," he replied, glad that Lois had made this easy on both of them, watching as she walked to the master bedroom and closed the door with a click. He turned, his own clean clothes in hand, as he walked toward the second bedroom and closed the door. Since they had checked into the hotel, he had been dreading the moment that they had to go to sleep. A decision had had to be made at that moment and, while his head was satisfied with the results, his heart and body were screaming at him to open the door and go find Lois to 'resolve' the unresolved sexual tension they had been battling for days now-tonight more than ever. The moments in between the time they had entered the hotel room and their 'goodnights' had been just filler until the time that they made the decision not to do anything about it and go to their separate beds.

He sighed and sat the clothes in his hands on the chair in the corner, rifling through the pile until he came upon his boxers. He removed his bathrobe and slipped the boxers on, throwing the aforementioned bathrobe on the back of the chair to hang up later before walking toward and the bed and getting in. He closed his eyes...

* * *

He was woken up by his own tossing and turning. He looked at the clock and sat up, noting that he had only been asleep for an hour.

"Clark?"

He looked up, startled, "Lois? What are you doing here?"

He watched as Lois bit her lip, looking indecisive as she shrugged, "I couldn't sleep. From the looks of it, neither could you."

"What's wrong?" he furrowed his brow questioningly.

She shook her head, "Nothing. I mean….yes, something's kind of wrong, otherwise I wouldn't be up, would I?"

He looked at her and tried not to smile. She looked tense and, knowing Lois the way he did, he knew it was because she had something on her mind, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," she shook her head negatively and came to sit down on the bed, successfully putting her words in doubt with her actions.

"Okay," he spoke slowly, still confused. "Then why are you in my room?"

Lois let out a nervous laugh, looking down at her hands and worrying her lip, "That's an excellent question. I don't really have an answer for it actually." She cleared her throat, "I'm going to go back to bed then. Thanks for listening, Clark."

She got up, still fidgeting, and hurried out of the room.

"Lois, wait….." he called, getting out of bed hurriedly and rushing after her. He caught up with her in the living room and grabbed her arm. "I've never seen you this….wound up…."

She turned to him with closed eyes, breathing through her nose. She shook her head, "Nothing's wrong, Clark. I'm just…trying to make a decision."

"About what?" he asked softly.

She opened her eyes, drawing a breath, and Clark could have sworn he saw resolve flicker briefly through them, "About this…."

And with those words hanging in the air, she kissed him.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: La Vie En Rose**

**A/N You'll all notice that a) Chapter 14 is missing, and b) that this chapter is really, really short. That is because Chapter 14 is rated NC-17, and so is the first part of Chapter 15 and cannot be viewed here for ratings issues. You can find it at Divine Interventions in all its unabridgedglory if you're over 17. And don't forget to review!**

The Butler was just placing the food Lois had ordered for them on the terrace when Clark came out of the bedroom, having taken his time in the bathroom, washing up to the best of his ability without actually taking a shower in anticipation for Lois' 'propositioning' later. He had also stopped in his room for the bathrobe that had caused them both such problems the evening before and this had meant that he had been unfortunately in the room to answer Chloe's frantic call to his cell phone. He had spent the next ten minutes convincing her that he and Lois were fine and what's more, that they were coming home later that day before she had allowed him to hang up. S

With this in mind, he stepped behind Lois, deftly wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him, dropping a kiss down onto her neck as he did so.

"There you are," she laughed lightly, wrapping her own arms around his and squeezing.

"Um-hm," his mouth drifted lower and he moved the bathrobe she was wearing out of the way so that he could kiss her shoulder.

"Stop that," Lois closed her eyes and forced herself to think of something other than how much she would like to just turn around and go back to that king size bed with Clark again. "The food just got here and if you don't stop kissing me like that, it'll be cold before we get to it."

He let her go, smiling at her and watching a little sadly as she re-positioned her bathrobe, "Chloe called." He sat down, reaching for the platter of scrambled eggs and taking a large portion for himself before reaching for the bacon.

"She did?" Lois arched an eyebrow, taking the platter of eggs that Clark handed her and placing roughly the same size portion that he had taken on her own plate. He slanted her a knowing look and she glowered at him. "We had a busy night Smallville. I think I'm entitled to be hungry."

"I didn't say anything," he raised his hands defensively and watching as she took some of the bacon for herself.

She shot him a look, "Yes, but you were thinking it."

"Lois," he caught her eye and held it. "I love that you have a healthy appetite. And yeah, you're entitled to it. I was there, remember?"

"Vaguely," she teased, taking the bowl of fruit salad that she had ordered and spooning some into a smaller bowl for herself. "Now what did Chloe have to say?"

Clark finished chewing the forkful of eggs he had just placed in his mouth before answering, "Well for starters, she wanted to know where we were and why."

"And what'd you tell her?"

He watched calculatingly as she loaded up a fork of eggs and bacon and brought it to her mouth, "I told her everything, of course. Paris, the hotel…..the sex."

"Clark!" Lois looked mortified, the fork dropping back to her plate and her eyes widening in horror. This was not the way she had pictured letting Chloe find out about this. It wasn't that she was embarrassed by what they had done last night and this morning. On the contrary, once they got back to Smallville she was going to have no troubles telling everyone about their new relationship. She just didn't think that learning about something so completely surprising over the phone was something that Chloe deserved.

Clark looked at her and tried to contain his laughter, failing in the end as Lois looked about ready to get up from the table, find her own cell phone and call Chloe to explain right now. That had been too easy… "Relax Lois. I figured you didn't want this to be publicized just yet and telling Chloe would be the fastest way for everyone we care about to find out. I DID tell her we were in Paris, but I didn't tell her why or even what we had been doing."

"You didn't….." Lois narrowed her eyes, "Really?"

"Really," he murmured, grabbing a piece of toast. "I thought you might want to tell her yourself once we got home later today."

She nodded, turning her attention to her food.

"Would it…." He started, insecurities over her reaction to what he had potentially told Chloe creeping into his brain unbidden. "Would it really have been so bad if I had told her?"

Lois looked up from her plate and immediately felt bad about the way she had reacted to his supposed actions, "No. Did I make it sound like it was?"

"No," he said, shaking his head, "I'm just curious."

Lois drew a breath and smiled into her plate. It was so cute how insecure he was, even after the night they had spent together, which should have told him otherwise. She wouldn't have let herself wake up in the same bed with him that morning if she hadn't of been serious about him.

There was no way that Clark could know this though…

With a sigh, she stood up and walked over to him, sitting down on his lap and wrapping her arms around his shoulders in an attempt to re-assure him that last night had not just been a one time thing, "Clark, look at me."

He did as he was told.

She kissed him gently, bringing one hand down to touch his cheek lovingly like she had the evening before. "I don't regret last night, okay? And I'm not about to deny what happened," she cleared her throat and kissed him again, deeper this time, before pulling away, "I'm not about to run away when I've found a good thing and you know what? You're a good thing; WE'RE a good thing."

"So you're happy about us then?" he felt himself lighten a bit, his words re-assuring him. Clark had always worn his heart on his sleeve and this fact had always gotten him into trouble. With Lois being as emotionally unstable as she had been over the past few days, he hadn't really known if she been completely serious last night. He had been re-assured by what she had done this morning but her reaction to his conversation with Chloe had put his guard back up.

She smiled at him and bit her lip, trying to find words suitable for how she felt. "Clark, I didn't know it was possible to feel this happy. You make me feel things I've never felt before." She cleared her throat, prepared to say exactly how she felt because he deserved to know, "Clark, I think I'm falling in lo….."

He stopped her with a finger to her lips, "Lois, you don't have to…."

"But I want to," she murmured, taking the hand that had been on her cheek and moving his finger from her mouth. "Clark, I have a day and a bit left and if what Madame Rosalind said comes true, then I won't have time to say this to you again. I'm already half in love with you now and, just so you know, if she's wrong I'm planning on falling all the way in love with you and I don't care who knows it." She took his lips again with her own and kissed him meaningfully, trying to convey exactly how she was feeling through her lips. After a moment, she pulled back a bit to breathe, "And for the record, I won't care how they find out."

Clark let out a chuckle and kissed her, his arms pulling her closer to him and tightening around her body. Lois felt as his hands moved around after a moment to loosen her robe….

It was her turn to laugh now, "I've created a monster. Is that all we're going to think about today?"

"Right now?" he broke apart, grinning slyly. He cocked his head to one side, "I was hoping. But if you want, we can always finish breakfast first….."

Lois seriously considered what he was saying for a moment before coming to a decision, "I think it's time for the Jacuzzi…."


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Internships**

Lois dropped one last kiss on Clark's mouth before opening the door of Mr. Kent's truck and stepping onto the sidewalk. Indeed, she and Clark had gotten home a half an hour ago but, as it was still broad daylight in Smallville, precautions had needed to be taken regarding their return. They had landed at the Kent farm and taken the truck into town, Lois having brought up the issue of her sister and the fact that, in her last day alive, she should probably spend it with Lucy. Clark had reluctantly agreed, despite believing that this 'deadline' for Lois' end was still a complete hoax.

She opened the door to the Talon and walked in, adjusting her purse on her shoulder and squeezing the hand that Clark had slipped into hers moments after she had hit the sidewalk. She looked at him as they navigated through the tables and began to walk up the stairs. A giggle escaped her as Clark drew closer behind her and dropped a small kiss on her neck. She wanted to be annoyed at him but the truth of the matter was that, since last night, they hadn't been able to keep their hands off each other.

The flight back to the United States had been a vastly different experience than the one there because of this and it had been all she could do upon arrival at the Kent farm to calm her libido enough to remember that her sister was waiting in her apartment for her. If Lucy hadn't of been there, Lois could conclusively say that she and Clark would still be at his place, probably making use of his bed in a way that she knew his parents wouldn't approve of. Lucy WAS here though, and the fact of the matter was that Lois was going to die in 24 hours. For those reasons, she had insisted that Clark bring her home.

She was beginning to regret her decision though, as she reached into her purse and found her keys, slipping them into the lock, Clark's lips continuing to assault her neck.

"Would you stop that?" she said breathily, fumbling with keys as she turned them in the lock. Beneath her hands, the door opened, and she turned around, entering the apartment backwards.

"You don't mean that," Clark followed her inside, knowing he had changed her mind by the way that she was now kissing him.

"I do mean that," she sighed into his mouth, feeling as he guided them further into the apartment and closed the door behind them, turning them around so that her back rested against the closed door. "I have to. We don't have time to do this again and Lucy…."

"….Is standing right here."

Lois opened her eyes and froze as she looked at the source of the voice. Her sister and Chloe looked back at her, both looking like they wanted to burst into shocked laughter.

"You two had a good time then?" Chloe asked; a smirk just under her lips as she watched her best friend let her cousin go, both of them red with embarrassment. She was sure she would laugh more about this when she wasn't so shocked. As it was, she had barely been able to contain the sharp expletive that had immediately sprung to her lips as they had entered the apartment and then proceeded to carnally assault each other against the door they had just closed.

Lois sat her purse down on the table, crossing her arms as she looked at her cousin sheepishly, "How could you tell?"

"The lipstick on the corner of Clark's mouth kind of gave you away Lo," Lucy piped up. Unlike Chloe, she was not about to allow her sister to live this down. It was too hilarious a chance to pass up…..

Clark blushed even darker, his hand coming up to wipe the make-up in question off his mouth. Lois watched him do this and couldn't help but laugh as he missed it.

"Here," she stepped towards him, wiping it off with her thumb. "Sorry."

"It's alright," he looked her in the eye and murmured softly. They stared at each for a moment before, with a weary sigh, Clark noticed out of the corner of his eye what time it was. "I should be going anyways. My parents are probably going nuts right now with the way we left yesterday…"

Lois nodded, letting out a sigh of her own. She knew he was right but she didn't want to see him leave just yet. She watched as he said good-bye to Chloe and Lucy before opening the door.

"I'll see you later then?" he asked, dropping a soft kiss on her lips and not caring that Chloe and Lucy were watching them with ridiculous smiles on their faces. He arched an eyebrow questioningly at Chloe who simply smiled and took a sip of her coffee, making no effort to give them any privacy whatsoever.

Lois followed Clark's eyes and smirked before looking back up at him and lowering her voice into his ear, "Midnight. The loft. Clothing is optional."

He let out a short chuckle and kissed her again, "I'll look forward to it."

And with one final kiss on her lips, he left the apartment.

Lois sighed and turned around to face her cousin and sister.

"Such a nice glow you're sporting today, Lois. Anything you'd like to tell us?" Lucy smiled into her tea, patting the chair next to her welcomingly.

"Not really," Lois, despite her better judgement, took off her jacket and sat down next to her sister, watching as Chloe walked over from behind the counter and sat down too.

"Uh-huh," Chloe murmured teasingly, and changed the subject to something a little more neutral then the topic of why Lois looked so happy she was glowing. She hadn't seen her cousin this…content…in years, "So how was Germany then?"

"Well we were only there for awhile…"

"Yes, we heard," Lucy crossed her arms. "I called Dad; he tracked you down, and then called me back to let me know you were alright. You really freaked me out, Lois, when you left the way you did."

"I know, and I'm sorry," Lois sighed, sitting forward at the table and resting her arms on the wood surface.

"So did you just go to Germany then…." Chloe continued the round of questioning, knowing the answer to this one but asking anyway. After tossing and turning in bed for hours worry for her cousin and her best friend had gotten the better of her and she had broken down and called Clark's cell phone. She had been shocked to learn that, instead of Germany as the General had said he and Lois were when he last saw them, that they were in Paris. This alone had made her suspicious that something out of the ordinary had happened.

If nothing had happened, there would have been no reason to make a stop in Paris; they would have come right home and probably hid out at the Kent's farm until suitable time had passed that Lucy would believe that they had taken the 'plane' back from Europe. When Chloe called, she wouldn't have reached Clark in the most romantic city on the planet and Clark most certainly wouldn't have sounded more relaxed than she had heard him sound in a long time.

Judging Lois' currently glowing state, Chloe could only assume that Clark was not the only one who was able to 'relax' on their trip to Paris….

Lois glared at Chloe, knowing for a fact that she knew exactly where she and Clark had been last night. She cleared her throat and shook her head. Lucy didn't know however, and it was for her that she now spoke, "No. We, um….we stopped in Paris for the night."

Lucy's jaw dropped, "Wait. You mean to tell me that you and Clark just 'happened' to go to Paris. Is that where this," Lucy gestured emphatically to her sister, "happened?"

"What do you mean by 'this'?" Lois mimicked Lucy's hand movements.

Her sister looked at her indulgently, "Lois, you can't stop smiling and, allow me to blunt, but it's obvious from the tired look in your eyes and the glow that we talked about earlier that you've had sex in the past 24 hours. Good sex even. And why not? He's gorgeous. The question you should be asking is not what I'm noticing about you, but 'why didn't you do this sooner?'"

Lois didn't answer.

"So how was he then? Or do I even have to ask?" Lucy continued, her sister's silence an indication to her that she should continue.

"Lucy!" Lois blushed darkly. "That is none of your business."

"That good, huh?" Lucy sighed wistfully.

Lois glared at her sister and tried to stop blushing. She failed miserably, "Chloe, can you please help me out here?"

Chloe looked at her amusedly, shaking her head, "Oh no, Lois. This is too much fun. I mean, you and Clark……how exactly did that happen again?"

Lois opened her mouth to respond but was saved from answering as her cell phone rang. She shot Chloe a look that promised retaliation and answered it. "Hello?"

"So how did the hotel room work out?"

Lois could practically hear Bruce smirking on the other end of the phone.

"Alright…." She replied, pushing herself back from the table and getting up.

"Good."

"Bruce, is there a reason you're calling, or are you too going to interrogate me about my sex life today?"

"Wait, there was sex!"

Lois rolled her eyes into the phone, "Bruce, you knew there would be sex when you booked us the suite so don't act surprised."

"It was the chocolate covered strawberries, wasn't it?"

She felt her jaw begin to tick, "Yes Bruce. It was the chocolate covered strawberries. Is there a reason you're calling me, or are you going to want a play by play?"

Bruce chuckled, "Maybe some other time. I'm calling actually, to ask when you were coming to Gotham City to look for apartments. If you wanted to, I could fly you out tonight and we could look together. The city's a little dangerous and we don't want you ending up in a rough neighbourhood."

Lois furrowed her brow in confusion, "Wait. What are you talking about?"

"The internship you applied for, Lois," he said, "Have you even checked your mail today? You got it."

She walked over to the countertop, searching through the pile of mail that was sitting there. Sure enough, there was a fat package from the Gotham Gazette. She stared down at the envelope in complete and utter shock. "Oh my God…."

"Did you want me to send a plane for you then?"

"Hmmm?" she murmured into the phone as she opened the package and stared down at the acceptance letter and orientation booklet for interns working at the Gotham Gazette.

Bruce spoke the words slower this time, "Did you want me to send a plane for you? Seriously Lois, you can stay at the mansion and tomorrow morning we can find you a place to stay. You could even bring Clark if you wanted to."

"That sounds great Bruce. I'll ask Clark what he's doing tomorrow," a smile broke out on Lois' face, not at the fact that she had the internship, but from what she had just remembered. If she had the internship, than that meant that Madame Rosalind had been wrong about something and if Madame Rosalind had been wrong about something….

Then Lois was going to live.

"How's 9 for you?"

Lois shook her head, smiling more broadly now at not only the fact that she was going to live, but also as she remembered what she was doing at that time. Or rather WHO she was doing. "No good, Bruce. I have something that I can't put off at that time. I can be ready for 3 though. How's that for you?"

"Whenever," he said, "Shall I send a helicopter to take you to Metropolis for three then? You'll have to be ready at 2:30 or so."

Lois nodded, "I'll see you when I get there."

And with that, she hung up the phone and allowed the euphoria she had been holding in to break over her.

She was going to live.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: Midnight. The Loft. Clothing is Optional.**

**A/N Okay. The sex scene is missing out of this chapter. Please visit http/loisclark. proboards78 .com for the full chapter.**

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* * *

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_Things had changed so much in the past 48 hours_, Clark mused to himself as he stared out into the night sky from his place in the loft. It was only 11:30, but he had come up here to think about all that had happened.

He smirked, running over some of the most memorable moments in his head and marvelling at his own patience that day. He hadn't wanted to leave Lois in her apartment. In fact if she would have let him, he would have kicked out Chloe and Lucy and spent the day with her-in all likelihood in bed together. The bottom line was that he had never felt this way before and he never wanted this feeling to end…

She was too addictive for him to even fathom giving her up.

Or so he had discovered since Lois' self-proclaimed 'last week alive' had begun. As much as an outsider would categorize this 'addiction' as merely sex, Clark knew it was more. It had started before he had even considered the possibility of a physical relationship with her.

He drew a breath and turned away from the window to sit down on the couch and simply stared as the object of his thoughts climbed the stairs, meeting his eyes with a smile.

"You're early," he murmured softly, his feet taking him towards her without thought while his lips preoccupied themselves with catching her lips in a quick kiss.

"So are you," Lois deepened the kiss until both of them were breathing heavily. She let out a giggle and sighed before letting go of him and walking towards the sofa.

Clark furrowed his brow at her behaviour, following her to the couch. "Well, you're certainly happy."

"I've been looking forward to this all day," Lois waited for Clark to sit down before sitting down on top of him, straddling his hips and kissing him deeply, her hands loosening the collar of his shirt.

"Mmmm," Clark sighed into her mouth, his hands moving down to cup her bottom and pull her closer. "So have I."

"You have no idea the thoughts I have been having about you," she whispered into his ear as Clark's hands slipped under the denim skirt that she had changed into before coming over here, pausing on her upper thighs. Unbeknownst to him, the skirt had actually been part of those thoughts she had been having. Indeed, after she had gotten off the phone with Bruce, she had talked her way out of an in-depth conversation with Chloe and Lucy and gone to shower off the smog she and Clark had flown through on their way over the East Coast. This had reminded her of the bath she had had that morning with him and that had lead to fantasizing about what she was going to do to him tonight in the loft.

Originally, she had thought of finding a haystack but that idea had been vetoed when she realized the material they would be having sex on. Hay was not a very soft item to begin with and she could only imagine what it would be like to make love in. Her next idea (the one she had eventually settled upon) involved Clark taking her on the couch, she on top of him and both of them only half dressed. Her outfit had been carefully planned for this and she was grateful right now for the fact that spring was rapidly turning into summer here in Smallville, aiding in her fashionable conquest of Clark Kent.

She imagined she would have been cold coming over here in a skirt and a t-shirt otherwise...

"Probably the same ones I've been having about you," Clark kissed his way down her throat.

Lois let out a chuckle, "Really?"

"Really. Dad had me helping him build a fence today but I was so distracted that he eventually sent me back to the house."

"How'd you explain that?"

It was Clark's turn to laugh now, in part in remembrance and in part because Lois had unexpectedly started working on getting his t-shirt off his torso, "I told him I hadn't gotten much sleep last night because I was chasing you around Europe."

"So you lied then…" Lois smiled and stifled a moan as he reached the spot on her neck where she liked to be touched the most, her hands working quickly to slip the t-shirt off of him.

Clark let go of her neck for a moment and helped her out, pulling the shirt over his head and throwing it to the ground, "No. I WAS tired and I WAS in Europe. They don't need to know the exact situation the chasing around occurred. On a completely different subject though, what's with the outfit Lois?"

She pulled back innocently, "You don't like it?"

"It's not that," he looked her up and down, his hands slipping back under her skirt but this time not stopping as they raised above her thighs and around. "It's just a different look for y….Lois! You're not wearing any underwear…"

She let out a hearty laugh, her hands moving down to undo his belt buckle, "Took you long enough to notice."

Clark gulped.

* * *

Clark found his breath slowly, lethargy rolling over him predictably as he came down from his orgasm. Something was bothering him though, something Lois had said in the middle of the end. He furrowed his brow, "2:30?" 

"Hmmm?" Lois murmured from the place her head was resting on his shoulder. She opened her eyes and dropped a kiss on Clark's shoulder.

"2:30," he repeated. "You said we had until 2:30."

"Clark, what are you talking about?" she yawned widely.

"You said we had until 2:30. What's happening after that you have to leave?"

Lois lifted her head off of his shoulder and adjusted herself on his lap, "I'm going to live, that's what's going to happen."

Clark raised an eyebrow, "We both knew you were going to live, Lois."

"I didn't," she said softly such a small voice that he immediately felt sorry for the tone he had made his last statement in. She drew a breath and continued, her voice taking on a happier tone as she apparently moved to a slightly different subject.

"But now I know I'm going to live so everything's alright."

"I'm confused," Clark's hands stroked her waist absentmindedly.

"Stop that," Lois squirmed in his hold as his fingers sent a shiver up her spine. They had things to talk about still and, however accidental his actions may or may not have been, they were still turning her on.

"Sorry," he let out a smirk, crossing his arms across his chest. It seemed a little absurd that she was getting turned on with his fingers on her stomach when he was still inside her and she hadn't mentioned anything about him stopping THAT yet. "Now are you going to tell me what you meant earlier or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"

Lois shook her head, a small smile on her face, "That won't be necessary, I think. I got a call from Bruce this afternoon. He wanted to know if I wanted to come to Gotham to look for apartments with him."

Clark furrowed his brow, even more confused now, "Bruce is looking for an apartment?"

She shook her head, "No. I'm looking for apartments. I got the internship."

"Wait, the internship in Gotham City?" Clark leaned back against the couch, the sexual energy that still simmered between them dampening a bit as the full impact of her words hit home. She was going to live.

Apparently in Gotham City though-all the way across the country.

"Yes!" she let out a short laugh, dropping an exuberant kiss onto his lips. She frowned as he less than enthusiastically responded. "Clark, are you okay?"

"Sure," he said awkwardly. He really didn't know what to say. They had just started a relationship with each other; it seemed a little odd for Lois to suddenly move across the country. "Isn't Gotham a little far from here though?"

Lois scoffed, "Yeah, but that won't be a problem. That kind of distance only takes you, what? 15 minutes to travel?"

Clark shook his head, "Lois, that's not the point."

"Then what IS the point?" she crossed her arms. "I got the internship I wanted and that means I'm going to live. You, Mr. Superpowers, can go round trip from Smallville to Gotham City in less than a half an hour. I don't understand why you're so upset."

"I'm not upset," he argued.

Lois shot him a look, "Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not.

"Yeah, actually, you are! I can tell because you're doing that thing with your eyebrows that you do when you get upset."

He let out a frustrated breath and tried to still his eyebrows. He failed…"Okay, fine! I am upset. Lois, we JUST started this relationship and as soon as you got the internship your first inclination was to take it and leave for Gotham City. How is that supposed to make me feel? What if I couldn't get across the country as fast as I can to see you? Would you still have taken the job if that were the case?"

Lois opened her mouth to speak and then closed it.

He shook his head, "That's what I thought," he moved a bit under her, picking her up off of him and getting up. He reached down to pull the condom off, tossing it into the trash before putting himself back into his boxers and doing up his jeans. He turned back to the couch where Lois was moving her skirt back into place and reached down to the ground, picking up their shirts from the floor and handing her t-shirt to her before slipping his own back over his head.

"Would you rather I stay here and let Madame Rosalind's prediction come true then?" Lois said quietly, hurt and anger building in her chest.

"I didn't say that," Clark shook his head, "And I know you don't like it here but I really didn't think you would decide to leave this quickly…."

"What are you talking about?" Lois stood up, anger forcing her to speak. "I'm not leaving because I don't like it here! For your information I love it here! I love your parents, the farm, the meteor freaks even." She met his eyes, "And I love you, Clark. The reason I'm leaving has nothing to do with Smallville and everything to do with the fact that if I take this internship then I won't be dying in the next 24 hours! Isn't that worth leaving for!"

"I never thought you were going to die," he said quietly, trying to process the fact that Lois had just told him that she loved him.

Lois looked at him for a moment, the loft falling into complete silence as she did so, "I think you did. For awhile at least. That's why you told me about your powers, why you let me in the way you did. It's also why we……"

She broke off, not willing to say the words and fully aware that Clark's response to her telling him that she loved him was not to return her words, but to continue their argument.

Clark, knowing what she was going to say but not wanting to actually hear it cut in, "You should go."

"Clark…."

"No," he shook his head, "There's nothing more to say. Just….go. Enjoy Gotham."

She nodded her head, walking towards the stairs that would lead her out of the loft. At the last moment, she turned, "I thought we agreed that last night meant something, Clark," she hissed out, anger getting the better of her. She was pretty sure she was going to say something she didn't mean if they kept talking. "What was so wrong with it that the prospect of distance between us is able to destroy it so easily?"

Clark didn't say anything, knowing that if he did he would say something he didn't mean.

Lois nodded her head and tried to hold back the tears that had suddenly made an appearance behind her eyes. "Right. I'll see you around Clark."

And with that, she left the loft.


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Time Part 1**

Chloe was livid as she exited Lois' apartment at the Talon the next morning, her evening having been spent watching Lois come back early from the farm and numbly packing her things before calling Bruce to see if he could send the plane for her earlier. She had left a little after 2 AM that morning and she hadn't given a time frame as to when she'd be back.

She also hadn't said anything about why she was going to look for apartments in Gotham now. Although the Gazette had told her she could come in at anytime for her orientation session, she hadn't expected Lois to suddenly decide to do it immediately.

Her eyes narrowed as she spotted Clark sitting at one of the tables drinking a coffee and reading the newspaper. Despite the fact that Lois hadn't said a word about why she was leaving for Gotham City so quickly, Chloe had a suspicion that it had something to do with her best friend.

"Chloe!" Clark smiled warily, looking up as she approached. He wasn't sure if Lois had told her what had happened last night and he REALLY didn't want to be the one to break that kind of news to her cousin. From the look on her face though, this wasn't going to be a problem.

He furrowed his brow in confusion, setting his coffee down on the table, "Chloe? Wha….Ow!"

He covered his head defensively as Chloe hit him on the back of the head.

"Oh don't pretend like you were hurt by that," Chloe scowled, sitting down at the table across from him. "Just be glad I don't have kryptonite on me right now because if I did, you'd be on the floor in a ball."

"Chloe, I can explain," Clark spoke up.

"Oh I bet you can," Chloe crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow in Clark's direction. "So let's hear it Clark; explain to me how Lois went from being completely happy to devastated in the course of half a day."

He drew a deep breath, "She told you about what happened then?"

Chloe shook her head, "No. She came home, didn't want to talk about what had happened, called Bruce to come and pick her up and left. It was as if the old Lois was back."

"The old Lois?"

"Yeah. Emotionally detached, hides behind sarcasm…..the old Lois. I haven't seen her like this since she first came to town. She's opened up considerably since then, or at least she had," she crossed her arms and glared at him, "So what'd you do?"

"Why are you assuming that she was upset because of something I'D done? Is it always my fault?"

Chloe's jaw twitched, "What'd you do Clark?"

Clark shifted uncomfortably in his chair, giving in, "We, um, had a difference of opinions about the internship in Gotham City and…."

"Oh God," Chloe couldn't stand to let him finish the sentence, disgusted already. She knew her best friend too well to think that THAT conversation had gone well. The fact that he was currently sitting alone in the Talon and Lois was in Gotham was statement enough as to the success of his evening last night, "Say no more. I can see where this went already. So are you going after her?"

He shook his head, "I really hadn't planned on it."

"Why not?" she demanded.

Clark let out a frustrated breath, "Chloe, I want her to be happy and if this internship makes her happy than so be it. I just don't think she's ready for anything to happen between us though if she's this willing to leave. She would have left even if I didn't have the capabilities to travel to Gotham and that's a sign that this is not going to work out."

Chloe nodded her head in mock understanding, "Wow Clark, it's so good that you're this progressive and up to date with your relationship indicators."

"Well what was I supposed to do! Get down on my hands and knees and beg her to stay? It's not like she would have anyways!" he threw the newspaper down on the table and raised his voice slightly. He lowered it though, when he realized how many people were now looking at him.

Chloe's jaw dropped as pieces of the mystery of Clark and Lois's rapidly changing relationship began to fall into place. She had thought they just liked each other, or even just enjoyed each other physically, but judging from Lois' numb behaviour and Clark's angry disposition, this was something more. She was willing to bet that everybody in hell was ice skating right now…

In the end, she closed her mouth and shrugged at her love struck friend. A small smirk turned up the corner of her mouth, "That might have been a good start. Or, you know, you could have just decided to visit her often. It's not like it doesn't take you like, five minutes to get there."

"Three," he muttered, "She thought it would take me fifteen minutes one way but she doesn't know how fast I actually am."

"Then why are you still here!" she threw up her hands, "Go after her! I've spent less than five minutes with you since I came downstairs and it's clear that you have real feelings for her. If distance isn't what's keeping you apart, then what is?"

Clark shook his head, opened his mouth to answer and then stopped himself. All he had in him right now were excuses and he knew in his heart that last night, overwhelmed as he had been with first Lois' news and then her confession that she loved him, had not prevented him from severely screwing up what he had with her. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

Chloe took pity on him, "You don't have to answer that, Clark. From the look on your face, I can tell that you know you made the wrong decision."

He shook his head, "I just….can't believe how _weird_ this week has been. I mean, if someone had told me at this time last week that I would be sitting here contemplating running off to Gotham City to confess to Lois Lane that I…."

"Yes?" Chloe leaned forward, smiling.

Clark glared at her but continued, "…loved her and didn't care if she was here in Smallville or half-way across the country, I probably wouldn't have believed it."

"But here we are," Chloe murmured softly. "I'm happy for you, Clark."

"Don't say that yet. I still need to get her to forgive me," Clark looked so worried that Chloe laid a hand across his in comfort.

"She will. Trust me. It might take some doing but she will."

He drew a breath, "I should probably thank that fortune-teller at some point. None of this would have happened had she not told Lois she was going to die."

Chloe furrowed her brow, "Yeah, about that…..we're sure that's not going to happen? I mean, she got the internship. Does that mean that this is over?"

Clark shrugged, "I guess. I never believed it was going to happen in the first place."

"But Lois did," Chloe said softly.

He nodded, "She did. I've never seen her so happy as she was when she told me that she was going to live."

"Are you sure that was her telling you she was going to live or….something else?" Chloe piped up slyly.

Clark simply blushed, and cleared his throat.

"I don't know about you," Chloe sighed, "But I'd kind of like to know for sure, you know? I mean, the week's up tonight….."

He crossed his arms, "Does this mean I'm coming with you to Metropolis, Chloe?"

Chloe bit her lip and looked at him, "If you wouldn't mind."

Clark stood up, "Sure. It's not like I'm doing anything better today thanks to my own stupidity."

Chloe nodded, "That IS true." She took the hand that Clark offered and stood up.

"Flying or driving?" Clark asked quietly, aware that they were in the Talon.

Chloe arched an eyebrow at him, "What do you think?"

Clark rolled his eyes, "What about your car? It's still going to be here in Smallville."

Chloe shrugged, "Well, you'll be taking me back here after. I promised Lucy I'd be here to have dinner with her."

He shook his head as he walked towards the exit, "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were using my powers for your own purposes."

"Me?" Chloe stopped at the door and looked at him in mock shock. "I would never do that."

Clark shook his head, "It's okay. Mom does it too."

"Really? YOUR Mom?"

He nodded, "Yeah. Loves it. Now c'mon. If we have to do this, I'd like to get it over with as soon as possible. I don't like fortune tellers."

He opened the door for Chloe and watched her exit the Talon before doing the same, turning into the back alley. It wasn't much, but it would provide them the cover needed to get out of Smallville unnoticed.


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: Time Part 2**

Madame Rosalind didn't look surprised as Chloe opened the curtains into the back room of her shop.

"You know," the fortune teller crossed her arms, "Generally my customers ring the bell before deciding to just come back here."

"We did ring the bell," Clark entered the room after Chloe, "But no one came out so we decided to come back."

Clark watched as the fortune teller's eyes widened and stopped on him, "What?"

"Oh my God," Madame Rosalind brought a hand to her mouth. So this was the man she had seen so much of in the visions of the future she was given, "It's you."

"Me? What about me?" Clark furrowed his brow, turning to Chloe with a questioning look in his eyes.

Chloe shrugged, unsure of why Madame Rosalind was staring at Clark the way she was. She watched as the other woman stood up and walked towards him, staring even more intently at him and even going so far as to run her hand up his arm before taking her hand back as if she had been burned.

Rosalind shook her head, her mind racing, "You know, I thought you'd be….bigger somehow….maybe exude more strength. I bet that comes with the costume though." She let out a short laugh, "What a difference in appearance it is. I have to say, I really can't picture you in tights..."

"Tights?" both Chloe and Clark spoke up, confused.

Rosalind sighed. She had to be careful of what she said. It was alright to share some of the future but tell too much and she ran the risk of messing up the timeline. Clark Kent's story was too important to mess up…"Not important. I mean it is, but it's not right now. You'll look good in tights, trust me…" She eyed him again. "You're going to be very important to the world, did you know that?"

Clark, unsure of what she meant by that, didn't choose to respond.

Unperturbed by this reaction, the fortune teller went on, "I'm happy I got to meet you actually. Not many people are actually going to know you for who you are beyond the cape but I'm happy to say that I'll be one of them. Albeit it by default. Can't really keep things from a fortune teller, now can you? Have no fear though. Clark Kent's going to be a great man in his own right."

"How did you know my name?" Clark exchanged an alarmed look with Chloe.

Rosalind raised an eyebrow and smirked, "I tell fortunes, Mr. Kent. Both yourself and your….alter ego…..come up quite frequently in many of my clients lives. Yours included," she motioned towards Chloe, who had been standing in shock as she watched the fortune teller talk. "Although you have another hero in your life to take care of you later on so your friend here falls out of the picture a bit. Hope you like bats by the way…."

"Bats?"

"Bats," Rosalind cleared her throat. She couldn't say much more without jeopardizing the future and from what she had seen, if she didn't phrase things just so, things would not be going as planned…"What did you two need from me today?"

Chloe drew a breath, still confused by the fortune tellers cryptic words but choosing not to dwell on them at the moment. She had a feeling it would only give her a headache, "Um, we need to talk to you about my cousin. A week ago you…"

"Told her she was going to die. Yes, I remember. Tragic, really…" Rosalind stepped away from Clark and sat down at the table, motioning for Clark and Chloe to take a seat. "What about your cousin do you want to know? I shouldn't think there'd be much more to discuss." She leaned forward, "I'm very sorry for your loss, by the way."

"She's not dead yet and what's more, I'm fairly certain she's not going to die," Chloe threw the fortune tellers words back in her face in sudden frustration. "For your information, she got the internship and that means you were wrong and she's not going to die."

"She got the internship?" Rosalind leaned back in her chair, not surprised in the least. This was the way things were supposed to go after all... "Hmmm. I don't know what to tell you then; despite your doubts, I've NEVER been wrong."

"The reason we're here is to make sure you WERE wrong," Clark spoke up, still disconcerted by the welcome he had received moments ago from the fortune teller. Her words had been…weird, to say the least.

Rosalind shrugged, glad that the timeline was going to plan. That was exactly what they were supposed to have done, "Well that's where I can't help you out. As I said, I've never been wrong."

And she couldn't very well tell them what was going to happen otherwise it wouldn't happen the way it was supposed to…the way it had to…

"Well you were today," Chloe retorted.

"Was I though?" the fortune teller sighed, running a hand through her loose hair. She hated this part of her job.

From the time she was a little girl, she had seen things; granted, they had never been as big as what she had been seeing in regards to not only Lois Lane, but about her cousin and the man whom she STILL didn't think would look as good as her visions had shown in a pair of tights-at least this version of him. He lacked confidence to pull it off right now.

Ultimately though, she never HAD been wrong about her predictions and that included what she had told the two girls last week. Lois Lane WAS going to die tonight…

"What's that supposed to mean?" Clark asked, interrupting Rosalind's thoughts with his question.

"It means," Rosalind drew a breath, "That if she dies tonight, then she doesn't get the job and I was right. I'm sorry."

Fear gripped Clark as he froze in his chair. He hadn't believed any of this but Rosalind's words to him earlier combined with the way she had just phrased the last thoughts made him think differently.

From beside him, Chloe gulped and Clark could tell that the same fearful expression that he had on his face was very likely on hers too, "Clark, go. Now. Please."

Clark did as he was told, wasting no time in standing and moving towards the exit. He stopped on his way out the door though, "Are you going to be okay?"

Chloe looked at her watch and swore. It was after 7 already. By the time Clark got to Gotham and tracked Lois down in the big city, it might already be too late.

She shook her head, "No. I'll take a cab to my apartment and call Lucy from there. Just….save her Clark."

He nodded his head and stepped out of the room.

Chloe drew a calming breath and turned back to Madame Rosalind, staring at her briefly.

The other woman shifted briefly in her chair before arching an eyebrow at her, "Was that all then?"

* * *

Lois stepped out of the apartment building, laughing at a joke that Bruce had just gotten through telling her.

"So what about that last one?" Bruce caught up with her.

She shrugged, "It was alright. It's a little far from the Gazette though."

He raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Are we back to the first one again then?"

Lois looked at him sheepishly, "Well, it was the closest to where I'd be working and quite frankly, I'd rather have a shorter walk to work every morning than cheaper rent."

"Fair enough," Bruce smiled at her, glad to see that she had cheered up since they had left his mansion that morning to go apartment hunting. Indeed, she hadn't been nearly as happy as she had been on the phone yesterday when she had arrived. "So, since it's past the dinner hour and we haven't eaten since we left the mansion this afternoon, where would you like me to take you out to eat? What kind of food are you in the mood for? Japanese? Italian? I'd suggest French but we both know that it wouldn't be as good as what you had in Paris."

"Yeah," the happy expression on Lois' face dropped and Bruce cursed himself for bringing up Paris. He knew what had happened there because, as Lois had pointed out during their brief phone conversation, he had essentially orchestrated the entire encounter between she and Clark. What he didn't know was what had happened since then. Lois was being unusually tight-lipped about the whole experience.

Whatever had happened in the last 24 hours though had left Lois in a rather depressed state. When he had picked her up from the airport early that morning, she hadn't wanted to tell him why either.

He hadn't felt the need to do real harm to someone in a long time but as soon as he had taken a look at Lois that morning, he had discovered that that side of him still existed. If he ever met this Clark Kent, he was going to do some very bad things to him…

"Well I don't know about that…." Lois furrowed her brow as she thought, trying her best to brush over the comment. She had lived her life without Clark in it before and she most certainly could do it again, "If you can find me a restaurant with authentic French waiters where we could order in the food's language of origin than maybe I'd make an exception."

Bruce shrugged, not willing to throw the pain that she was still feeling back in her face with the memories he knew she was battling right now, "How about Chinese food then? If you want, we could even get it To Go. Maybe take enough home for Alfred too."

"How IS Alfred? I didn't get a chance to talk to him this morning," Lois asked, nodding her head enthusiastically at that last idea, the smile now back on her face at the thought of such a low key evening.

"He's good," he nodded, "He'll be happy we decided to do this too. We don't see enough of you at the mansion, Lois and I know he'd be interested in talking to you. Besides, Chinese food's his favourite."

He stopped as they reached the car and climbed in the limousine door after Lois. "I know this great little place in Chinatown….."

Clark listened closely to the many noises that were resonating out of Gotham City as he flew a low sweep, listening amongst the voices and heartbeats for Lois'. He had been unsuccessful thus far, having been doing this for the past half an hour with no luck.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar laugh coming from below him.

He spotted her from across the street of the alley he eventually landed in, a bag of what looked like Chinese food in her hands. With a sigh, he looked both ways, waiting for the busy traffic to clear.

Clark watched as a tall, dark-haired man came up behind her and took her free hand in his. A surge of jealousy ran through his body as Lois graced the man with a smile before passing him the bag of food. They continued to walk down the street, only stopping when they reached a limo.

His eyes shifted back to the traffic, noting that it didn't appear like he would be crossing the street anytime soon if the amount of cars not stopping for the pedestrians was any indication.

A scream broke him out of his thoughts though and his eyes searched immediately for Lois, scared that something had happened. His heart skipped a beat as he realized that the scream had come from one of the woman standing only 10 feet away from the limo.

Someone had a gun and was pointing it directly at Lois and whomever the guy she was with was.

The next few moments passed in slow motion as Clark, with his enhanced auditory capabilities, listened to the man with the gun demand their wallets, watches, and jewellery. He sighed in relief as Lois appeared to do as she was told, for once not fighting back. She reached into her purse and removed her wallet. From beside her, the dark haired man brought his own wallet out of his jacket pocket.

And that's when it happened.

Later, it would be revealed that the man who had come to Lois' 'rescue' was an undercover cop who just happened to be in the 'right' place at the 'right' time to see the mugging but Clark would always remember the man as being the first do-gooder that he had wanted to wring his neck.

In the scuffle that ensued, the gun went off and for a moment, the world stopped as Clark gave up waiting for the traffic to slow and took off across the street, successfully disarming the man with the gun before coming to a stop in the darkness of the alleyway where the limousine was parked.

"Is everyone alright?" the cop asked, picking the gun that the mugger had-he guessed-dropped during the struggle, and tossing it to his partner before putting handcuffs on the criminal.

"I think so," Bruce placed his wallet back into his pocket, and looked up as a man raced out of the alley behind him and came to a stop in front of them. "Who are you?"

Clark didn't waste time with introductions, "Are you two alright?"

Bruce nodded and then looked to Lois, "Yeah, we're fine I think. Lois, are you……oh my God."

Lois' eyes widened as she looked down at herself and the blood stain that was rapidly spreading down her front. She placed a hand on the source of the blood and winced as a pain shot through her body, making her light-headed. She tried to draw breath but suddenly found it difficult.

She knew something was seriously wrong when the world around her begin to dim.

"Lois!" Clark was just in time to catch her as she began to fall to the sidewalk…


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: Questionable Fate**

Clark sighed and sat back in the hard hospital chair in the waiting room at Gotham City General, mentally replaying the images of Lois being wheeled into the emergency room from the ambulance numbly.

He ran a hand through his hair in renewed frustration, his ears reaching out to hear the somewhat comforting sound of Lois' heartbeat-erratic, but still beating. It had fluctuated as she had gotten hooked up to various life support machines but had since stabilized to a certain extent.

At first, he had tried to get information-any information-out of the nurses and doctors on duty but he had come up empty-handed and more than a little angry. No one knew anything for sure and they wouldn't know until Lois came out of surgery.

He looked up to watch the dark haired man who had come to the hospital with Lois-the same man who had been walking with Lois when it had happened. As soon as he had gotten to the hospital, he had been on his cell phone talking to someone about specialists or something like that.

He watched as the man finally put his phone away and came to sit in one of the chairs close to Clark, a Blackberry having made its way into his hands in the moments it had taken for him to travel across the room. He checked something before putting it back in his pocket and looking up at Clark.

"So….." he began, "How do you know Lois?"

"Hmmm?" Clark looked at the man, surprised that he was talking to him after so much time spent at opposite ends of the waiting room from each other.

"How do you know Lois?" the man tried again, crossing his arms. "I mean, you obviously know her, otherwise you wouldn't have known her name and you probably wouldn't have caught her back there. You also wouldn't be here now. So tell me, how do you know Lois?"

"I'm a…friend," Clark furrowed his brow and looked down, unsure if he was even that anymore. That would have to serve as his title for the moment though.

"A friend, huh?" Bruce raised an eyebrow. Whoever this man was, he was not just a friend. The terrified look in his eyes when he had seen the blood pooling on the sidewalk before the ambulance got there was indication enough of that. If he didn't know any better, he would say that this man was in love with Lois.

Bruce cleared his throat and stuck out a hand to the other man, "Bruce Wayne."

Clark took the offered hand and shook it, "Clark Kent."

Bruce froze, his eyes darkening, "Really….."

Clark took in the reaction his name had just received from Bruce and grimaced, "I see she told you about me then."

"No actually, she didn't. But I've known Lois a long time and the fact that she didn't say anything about you told me everything I needed to know," Bruce sat back in his chair. "So what brought you to Gotham City, Clark Kent? Not done breaking Lois' heart yet?"

Clark went silent, not knowing how to respond to that. Should he tell him about the fortune teller's prediction, or would that just seem like he was making excuses for his behaviour? He knew if he did, it would discredit the reason behind coming to Gotham City: he loved Lois, he had screwed up monumentally and he was here to get her back.

Bruce looked at him speculatively and allowed a smirk to build on his face. He COULD go the angry route and continue to give this Clark Kent guy that Lois was obviously in love with a hard time or he could go another way entirely. In the end, he decided that, while the former route would certainly alleviate his anger at Clark for doing what he had to Lois, the latter route was going to provide him the most entertainment. As a bonus, it probably wouldn't get him kicked out of the hospital either. The fact of the matter was that the man sitting next to him was clearly head over heels for his best friend and it was for this reason that he found himself tossing his anger aside.

Besides, he really didn't think that Lois would appreciate him beating up her boyfriend for her…

He shrugged his shoulders, his smirk taking over his face, "You know what ? Don't say anything. Your face tells me everything I need to know. You're in love with her, right?"

"Is it that obvious?" Clark murmured, glad that he didn't have to explain. Sometimes it was a good thing that he wore his heart on his sleeve.

Bruce let out a chuckle, "Yeah. It's written all over your face. Luckily for you, the fact that you're here makes me want to kick your ass a little less, but I really can't make a definitive conclusion about it until I know one thing: what'd you do?"

Clark looked at Bruce, frustrated. "Why is it everyone assumes that I did something? What about Lois?"

Bruce shook his head, looking back at Clark, "I highly doubt she had anything to do with this. For one, when I called Lois yesterday afternoon, she was uncharacteristically happy and when I picked her up only hours later she was back to the woman I met in China; all walls and no emotions. She won't talk about you or Paris and, to make the picture complete, when we were looking at apartments for her earlier today, she was looking at leases that began immediately, a fact that I, with my limited understanding of the situation, took to mean that she wanted out of Smallville as soon as possible. I know she's likes it there though, so that left me with the obvious conclusion that you had done something. So tell me Clark, because I'll find out anyways; what'd you do to make her want to skip town?"

Clark opened his mouth to speak but stopped when the sound of Lois' heart changed slightly, slowing enough to make him concerned.

"Clark?" Bruce leaned forward, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just….." his eyebrows raised in shock as the heartbeat slowed even more and then……stopped. "Oh my God."

He tried to calm himself, opening up his senses and listening to the long beep of Lois' heart monitor. He heard the doctor's rushing around the room and then the defibrillator charging.

"Clark?" Bruce's expression took on a hint of concern. If he didn't know any better, he would say that Clark was hearing something that he wasn't.

Clark tuned Bruce out, listening more closely as the doctors used the defibrillator on Lois again to no effect. A million thoughts ran through his head as he continued to listen, sending a silent prayer to whoever was listening to please let what the doctor's were doing to her work.

He waited a moment more before getting up. He knew there wasn't anything that he could do but that didn't register with him now. He had to see her before….he stopped his thoughts, unwilling to go there.

She was not going to die.

Bruce watched as Clark's face took on a conflicted look and then changed abruptly to one of resolve. He furrowed his brow as Clark moved towards the nurse's station and continued past it, going through the doors that Lois had disappeared into and ignoring the sign that told him that no one beyond hospital personnel was allowed through.

"Sir?" The nurse sitting at the station looked up and frowned as Clark went past her, watching he ignored her. "Sir, you can't go in there. Sir!"

Clark ignored the woman's protests, his mind focussed on one thing as he listened to the continued silence that was ringing in his ears, his feet beginning to move faster as they propelled him closer to the operating room that Lois was in. In the back of his mind, he knew there wasn't anything he could do to save her; even he, with all of his powers, was powerless against something like death.

He had never been heavily invested in religion but at this point, he found himself beginning to pray that the doctors would be able to get Lois' heart started again. If they didn't, well, he didn't want to think of that.

The world began to move slower as he approached the operating room, not even noticing the security guards who were now entering the doors he had some through moments ago, following him. He watched silently through the windows on the door as the doctor's used the defibrillator on her again and again before looking at each other, the resounding beep from the heart monitor screaming that they had failed.

Clark listened numbly as the surgeon in charge took off his mask and let out a shaky breath, "Mark it," he murmured, "Time of death, 10:37 P….."

His voice was cut off however, as Lois suddenly drew a gasping breath and the heart monitor started beating again.

Clark laughed in relief, the tears that had began to form behind his eyes as he had listened to the surgeon announce that Lois was dead now forgotten. "That's my girl," he murmured to no one in particular before casting one more look at Lois and turning to go back down the hallway.

"Sir," one of the security guards caught up to Clark, "You can't be back here. This is a restricted area. Hospital personnel only."

"Yeah. I know. I just had to…..know something," he said softly, his ears again picking up the sound of Lois' heart, now beating steadily and loudly.

He allowed himself to be lead out of the area, a small smile on his face.

* * *

Lois opened her eyes a little and winced as the harsh light from the lamp next to her bed bit into her vision. She wiggled her fingers a bit and looked down, taking in the fact that she was hooked up to an IV. Her mind tried to remember what had happened….

She had been shot.

She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again, trying to remember the exact details. Clark had been there, she had thought, but she was pretty sure she had been hallucinating at that point. Clark was still in Smallville after all. There was no way he could be…….

"Look who's up," a familiar voice cut into her thoughts.

Lois turned her head toward the voice and frowned, "Hey. What…" her voice, unused as it had been, cracked and she tried again, "What are you doing here?"

Clark's elation at seeing Lois awake was tamped down to as he looked at the expression on her face. He reminded himself how they had parted ways and swallowed. It was time for him to throw away all his pride and make a complete fool of himself if he wanted her back.

He fumbled for words. It was all well and good to decide to make a fool of yourself but in practice it was a little more difficult. In the end, he decided to just tell her the truth. "I realized this morning what a fool I was for treating you the way I did and came to Gotham after you."

Lois narrowed her eyes at the clichéd statement and tried to sit up. Pain shot through her torso and she sank back into the pillows, a gasp escaping her. Clark's hands immediately came up behind her to steady her.

"Okay. Note to self: don't do that again," she settled herself again, drawing a deep breath to ease the pain.

"Yeah, getting shot has that kind of after-effect," Clark murmured, sitting back down and pulling his chair closer to the bed.

"Well, you would know, wouldn't you?" Lois closed her eyes for a moment, "I think I remember hearing about you getting shot once?"

"I didn't have to deal with the healing part though," he chuckled humourlessly, "Dying tends to take that part away from a person. Unless you're you that is."

Lois looked at him warily, "What do you mean by that? The fortune teller was wrong. I got the job and I didn't die. I got shot, but I didn't die."

Clark raised an eyebrow, smirking at her.

She paused a moment, trying to discern what that expression meant for her, "I didn't die Clark."

He looked at her and shook his head, telling her without words how wrong she was.

"I died?" Lois looked at him incredulously. "Seriously? For how long?"

Clark looked down at his hands, "About a minute." From the bed in front of him, Lois went silent so he continued, sensing that this was the way to let her know how he felt about her, "The longest minute of my life."

Lois didn't know how to respond to that. Instead, she simply looked at him, mentally urging him to lift his head and meet her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she murmured as he did as her mind had been asking him to.

He looked at her for a moment and then let out a short gust of laughter, shrugging his shoulders, "Well, I guess I deserved it, didn't I? I mean, I was the one who told you I thought it wasn't going to happen. Stands to reason that you would try to prove me wrong again."

They both laughed now, the pain that they had been putting each other in over the last 24 hours melting away a bit as they indulged in the familiar banter.

"So what brings you to Gotham, Smallville?" Lois asked after a moment, easing back into the pain slowly. They couldn't ignore it, not if they wanted anything to come out of this encounter, and it had to be an honest resolution.

Although she was surprised at how much she wanted him to try to feed her the lines he had opened their conversation up with.

Clark cleared his throat, "You. I was stupid, Lois. And possessive. You deserve to be able to take this job without living up to any ultimatum that I might hold you too."

Lois nodded her head, agreeing with him. From the way he was talking, she had a feeling that someone had had a chat with Chloe. Clark, she knew for a fact, was not nearly this insightful without someone else's help…

He continued, "I don't mind coming halfway across the country to see you either because…..because what we have had over the past week has been too special for us not to explore it and….."

"And?"

He met her eyes, "I should have told you earlier but….I was hurt that you were leaving so soon after…and I never got to respond correctly to what you said to me before you left." He cleared his throat, preparing himself for what he was about to say. It was very scary what he was about to do…."So let me say it now. I love you."

Lois searched Clark's eyes for the truth, "You love me?"

He nodded, "It took me longer than you to figure it out but…..I do."

A small smile began to creep onto Lois' face. She wasn't normally such a softie when it came to things like this but Clark, as he had been doing all week for her, was helping her re-define who she was in ways she hadn't thought possible. She was softer than she had ever thought she could be and it was all his doing.

"Yeah," he smiled in relief, leaning forward in his chair and taking her hand. "I love you. And I'm going to do anything I can to be with you wherever you decide you want to work."

Lois watched, tuning him out as he continued to talk, her smile broadening as he tripped over himself to say the right things. He was bumbling, impossible, and he annoyed her to no end but she loved him. And that, she was quickly realizing, was more than enough.

"Smallville," she interrupted, listening as he continued to ramble before trying again. "Clark!"

"Yeah?" he went quiet, looking at her nervously.

"Enough talking; I love you too. Now get up here and kiss me," she smiled, tears in her eyes.

He smiled in return and stood up before moving to the bed and dropping a soft kiss onto her lips, careful not to move her too much.

Lois sighed into his mouth as the kiss deepened, and she tightened her arms around his shoulders.

Clark drew a grateful breath and let her go after a moment, remembering something he had forgotten to do, "I forgot, Bruce left me something to give to you."

Lois raised an eyebrow but accepted the white envelope that Clark handed to her, opening it gently and looking at the letter it contained.

"What is it?" he asked, sitting back in his chair.

Lois looked at him, stunned, "Madame Rosalind was right. I didn't get the job."

He quirked an eyebrow in her direction, confused, "But I thought you DID get the job."

She rolled an eyebrow, "I did, Smallville, but I can't take it if I take this one instead."

Clark took the letter out of her hand and grinned as he looked at what it said, "Lois Lane, Junior Reporter for the Gotham Gazette."

"Apparently," Lois closed her eyes and reached for Clark's hand. He gave it up without a word, stroking her thumb with his without thought. "You know, this is not how I pictured my week turning out."

He didn't answer, unsure of what to say about that.

Lois leaned her head towards him and opened her eyes sleepily, "It's way better."

Clark brought Lois' hand to his lips and dropped a kiss onto it softly, "I agree."


	22. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Of Wedding Receptions and Honeymoon Beds**

_It was a beautiful evening for a wedding,_ Chloe thought as she watched her cousin and her best friend dance with each other from across the garden at the Metropolis Plaza Hotel. She drew a deep breath and, for what seemed the hundredth time in the past fifteen minutes, scanned the room for the handsome billionaire that Clark had made his best man. Indeed, Bruce Wayne had disappeared into the crowd about an hour ago and she hadn't seen him since.

This wasn't a new phenomenon. Since she had met him six months ago and began spending time with him she had noticed that he had a tendency to disappear for absolutely no reason only to return later with no explanation or at best, a lame one.

If she wasn't best friends with Clark Kent, she was pretty sure she would have found this more unusual than it was…

They both had a habit of running off at random times (although Chloe now knew why Clark did so, so it wasn't so unexpected anymore). She glanced at her watch again and narrowed her eyes. Tonight had not been an appropriate night for that sort of behaviour however, and now they were rapidly running out of time. If he wasn't here in 5 minutes, she was going to have to set up the final touches of their gift to Clark and Lois by herself.

With a breath, she stood up and picked up her purse and jacket. Screw waiting five minutes; she was through waiting…..

"Looking for me?" A voice whispered lowly in her ear.

Chloe almost jumped she was so startled. She turned, hand to her chest as she fought to catch her breath, "You scared me!"

"Sorry," Bruce murmured unapologetically.

"Right," she crossed her arms, "So where have you been?"

Bruce shrugged and a soft smile made his lips rise-and Chloe's stomach flip-flop.

Chloe rolled her eyes and tried to calm herself. This was ridiculous; she was a grown woman. No man should be able to make her feel like a nervous teenager at this age and stage but somehow, Bruce did…"Let me guess, you can't tell me?"

"Actually, I CAN tell you this time," Bruce offered his arm to Chloe and began to lead her out of the ballroom, careful not to let his eyes linger on her for too long. He inwardly hoped that he had been reading the signs correctly tonight and that those looks that the woman beside him had been shooting him when she thought he wasn't looking were along the same lines as the ones he had been successfully shooting her when she wasn't looking. "I was taking care of some of the final details for our surprise. All we need to do now is set out the presents."

"Wait, wait, wait," Chloe came to a halt outside of the door to the ballroom, "You did all of that in the hour you were gone?"

Bruce looked at her a bit sheepishly, "No."

"Well how did you do it then?"

"I didn't say I was the going to be the one to actually set up the area. In the last hour, I supervised the last of it."

Chloe let go of his arm and crossed her own arms across her chest, "So you hired someone to do it for you?"

Bruce didn't answer, instead, only looked more repentant.

"Okay then," Chloe murmured sarcastically and continued to walk towards the elevator.

"Chloe," he came to stand next to her as she waited for the elevator to come, pressing the 'up' button before stepping into place beside her. "I'm a Wayne. We don't do; we hire and in this case, it paid off extremely well. I know we were only going to go for a passable resemblance but I thought I'd do one better. The Metropolis Plaza is even re-naming the suite the Meurice Suite because it's such a……'

"Rip-off of the original?"

"No," Bruce glared at Chloe, watching as the elevator opened in front of them before stepping in with her. "It's an exact replica and the Hotel Meurice themselves re-decorated it for us."

Chloe shot him a look, "And how'd you manage to do that?"

Bruce paused a moment before continuing, a bit awkwardly now, "I made a generous donation to both hotels and we came to a mutual agreement."

Chloe rolled her eyes again as the elevator door closed and they began to move up, "Clark wouldn't approve of it, you know. You should have spent the money on something for a social cause, or maybe even the environment."

Bruce glowered at her, "Clark's just going to have to get over it. He and Lois deserve this and they're going to have it. Besides, he's done so much for this city in the last year, he shouldn't be above taking a gift."

"That's not his way and it's not…._his…_way either," Chloe said in a low voice, mindful that they were in a public elevator. It wouldn't do for her to reveal the secret identity of Superman in this venue.

"Again," Bruce continued, knowing from his experiences working alongside Superman as Batman that Chloe was probably right, but not caring. At some point, Clark just had to suck it up and deal with the fact that presents-especially extravagant ones-were meant to be accepted and enjoyed. "He'll get over it."

Chloe opened her mouth to reply but was cut off as the elevator came to a stop and the door opened. Bruce simply smiled at her as he moved down the hallway and slid the cardkey into the door, letting them in. She stepped inside, her jaw dropping as she looked around the room.

"Do you like it?" Bruce's voice startled her.

She looked at him and then back to the room, taking in the detail that had gone into the preparation. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that she had stepped into the suite in Paris where her cousin and her best friend had first given in to what they had together, "Bruce it's……amazing. I didn't think you'd get such a likeness."

He snorted, "Likeness? This is a reproduction. An….

"Exact replica," Chloe finished for him. "Yes, I know. It's just…..when you said you did this, I didn't really expect…. This. They're going to love it."

"Well thank you, Chloe," he looked proud of himself now, smiling at her warmly in that way that he did only around the people he was most comfortable with.

And he was certainly comfortable with her. After six months of helping to plan the wedding, and consequently spending a lot of time together, Bruce was more comfortable with her than he was with Lois. Chloe, despite her constant questioning (which he found endearing, rather than annoying for some reason) had immediately been attractive to him upon their first meeting and since that time, they had only gotten closer. The inevitable next step though, the one he had been hoping to reach since the first second he met her, would put it all in jeopardy. While he was relatively eager for it to happen, his brain would mourn the loss of the equal it had found in Chloe Sullivan as a friend if she didn't feel this next step was appropriate. If he made a move tonight and took it to the next level, there was always the chance that it wouldn't work out and he was mentally-and emotionally-unprepared for that.

Chloe shifted uncomfortably as he smiled at her again and the room fell into silence for a moment. She cleared her throat and tried to ignore the way her heart had suddenly began to beat faster. Combined with his tux and that smile, she rather thought that Bruce should be arrested for looking as good as he did tonight. "We should get moving though; Clark and Lois were looking really close to ditching their own wedding reception when we left and I'd like to have this finished when they do."

"Getting impatient, were they?" he shrugged, his smile turning into a smirk as he saw how disconcerted his smile had left her, but moving onto the new topic she had presented him with.

"More like tired of all the well-wishers," Chloe rolled her eyes, "I don't think Lois knew what she was getting into when she let her father get a hold of the guest list."

"Well, I thought the President was a fine addition to the event," Bruce chuckled lightly. "Now what can I do to help?"

"You can set up the strawberries," she passed him a cooler, making sure to avoid touching him accidentally. Her hormones had been all over the place when it came to him and she was pretty sure that touching him would only make it worse, "There should be a tray in there as well."

Bruce lifted the lid of the cooler and raised an eyebrow at the contents, "Chocolate covered strawberries….."

"Lois' favorite," she nodded her head, not looking in Bruce's direction as she removed a wrapped box and sat it on the table.

"What's in the box?" Bruce asked, setting the tray of strawberries onto the coffee table.

"Something for Clark," she smirked, remembering the shopping trip she had made with Lois a month ago. Her cousin had been too embarrassed to buy this but Chloe had gone back for it later.

Bruce raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Chloe met his gaze, "Lingerie for Lois."

Bruce let out a short laugh, "I see. Did you remember to put some body paint in there too? I think I had that included in their first suite."

"Are you serious?" she raised an eyebrow and stifled a smile as he nodded, "You're an interesting man, you know that, right?"

"You don't know the half of it," he murmured cryptically.

Chloe shot him a confused look and shook her head, "You can't be THAT complicated; I'm best friends with Clark Kent. I doubt your complicated compares to his."

"You'd be surprised."

"Uh-huh," she crossed her arms and stepped towards him. "So tell me then. What makes Bruce Wayne so much more complicated than Clark Kent, a man who we both know holds more back from the world than he lets it know."

Bruce shook his head and smirked at her, "Now that would be telling."

She nodded and stepped closer, "This wouldn't have to do with Clark, would it?"

"In part," he shrugged, and moved to the cooler to remove the champagne that was chilling there.

Chloe crossed her arms and sighed, taking in the cool expression on Bruce's face and tamping down her reporter's instincts. He would share his secrets with her if and when he ever became ready and she wasn't about to push him into it.

No matter how hard she wanted to.

She was torn out of her thoughts as she watched Bruce take out the champagne flutes from the cardboard box she had been storing them in. He removed the tissue paper and finally set the first glass on the table.

Chloe smiled as he moved the platter with the strawberries and reached into the box for the second glass, not noticing as Bruce, with one hand, did the same.

She drew in a soft gasp as his hand brushed against hers. Her hand was tingling where he had touched her…

"Sorry," Bruce murmured, letting her lift the glass out of the box and watching as she fumbled with the tissue paper, almost dropping the flute. His hand shot out to stop its descent and in the process, touched her again.

"Thanks," she sighed, feeling rather than seeing as his hand settled over hers, keeping the glass from falling and simultaneously taking hers in his own.

They looked each other in the eye and the room began to fall away around them. Chloe could swear her heart was going to beat itself out of her chest and she wanted to kiss him so badly it hurt.

Now was neither the place, nor the time for that though and she cleared her throat, breaking the spell a bit, but not completely.

"You can let go of my hand now," she said in a low voice a moment later, her breath shallower than she would have liked it to be.

Bruce drew in a breath and leaned in a bit, taking a moment to place the champagne flute they were still holding and set it down next to its mate on the table. He cleared his throat and reminded himself that he was Batman; Bruce Wayne might be scared shitless right now but Batman was never scared. He could do this…..

"What if I don't want to let go?"

"Bruce, we can't……" she leaned in closer and sighed, her lips almost on his.

"Yes, we can. I've wanted to do this since the first moment we met….." He let his lips brush against hers gently, simply letting their lips touch in a prelude to what was to come.

And with that, his lips came down on hers first hesitantly, and then with more force. Soon, all bets were off, as their kisses became more passionate.

Chloe broke apart only once and that was to push Bruce down onto the bed…..

* * *

Lois peeked around the corner of the hallway and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw it was empty. The elevator was only a few feet away down the hall and once they made it there, they would be home free. She shook her head in exasperation; she couldn't believe she was sneaking out of her own wedding reception…

"We're clear," she murmured after a moment, her hand tightening on Clark's behind her.

"You know," Clark rolled his eyes as he tightened his grip on Lois' waist and drew her closer to him, "I could have just looked around the corner with my……"

"Yes, but that would be cheating," she turned to look at him and was rewarded by a kiss. She pushed him away reluctantly, mindful that they had to reach the elevator doors before her father caught them and made them go back inside to mingle with all the important guests he had included on the once small guest list.

If it had been up to Clark and Lois, they would have had a small wedding in the Kent's backyard with only their closest family and friends in attendance. Instead, they had gotten what their editor, Perry White, had coined 'the social event of the season.' Indeed, as young and highly successful reporters for the Daily Planet, when they had announced that they were engaged, they had made themselves a story worth covering.

And the General had made them even more of a story when he had insisted that a small wedding was not going to be good enough for his little Lo. Before either she or Clark had known what was happening, her father had been booking the Metropolis Plaza Hotel-the finest hotel in Metropolis-for the reception, and had added what seemed like every person she had ever met to the guest list. Including the President, who just happened to be a close, personal friend of her father's……

Perry had practically wet himself when he heard this and had given them three weeks off instead of two for their honeymoon.

They hurried across the hallway and Lois pushed the button that would take them upstairs to the Honeymoon Suite that they had booked for the next two nights. After that, she was looking forward to spending three weeks uninterrupted in bed with her new husband in their apartment-formerly Clark's apartment-and newly moved into two days ago with the help of her sister and Chloe.

She let herself be kissed again, this time up against the wall next to the elevator as they waited.

"I have missed you so much," Clark murmured into her mouth, his hands moving up her back to pull her closer to him.

"I've missed you too," she stifled a whimper as his mouth moved from her lips to trail down her throat. "It's been too long."

"Let me remind you that it was your idea to spend two weeks apart before the wedding," Clark pushed them further into the wall, calculating how long the elevator would take to get them upstairs once it arrived. From the sound of it, about a minute or so….

"I wanted our wedding night to be special…."

"And it's going to be," a dry British voice said quietly.

The newlyweds froze and looked up from each other, following the voice of Alfred, Bruce's employee and most trusted confidante and staring at him.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he smiled smugly, "But you won't be needing to go upstairs; Mr. Wayne has made other arrangements."

Lois raised an eyebrow, "Other arrangements?"

Alfred reached into his coat pocket and took out a piece of paper, "The jet is ready and waiting at the airport and your hotel has been booked. Two weeks in the Belle Etoile Suite at the Hotel Meurice in Paris."

Clark looked at his wife, confused, "Did you know about this?"

"No," she shook her head, confused. "Alfred, we had the Honeymoon Suite booked already. We even have a key card to get in. So why……"

"Mr. Wayne and Ms. Sullivan were trying to finish their surprise for you but were unable to do so in time," Alfred continued, remembering the call he had gotten five minutes ago from Bruce Wayne detailing what he wanted Alfred to prepare for Clark and Lois in lieu of their hotel Suite-which apparently was in use at the moment. Alfred hadn't had that good of a laugh in quite some time. "They wish to convey their apologies and to let you know that the Suite is in use right now."

Clark's brow furrowed in confusion, "In use? If it's not ready that who would be usi……"

Lois watched as her husband's face took on an expression of realization and a smile took over his face. A smirk spread across her own face. She could imagine how their Suite had become 'busy.'

She shared a laugh with Clark, "Go Chloe."

"Well, then," Alfred smiled knowingly at them before handing Clark a sheet of paper with all the details on it for their stay in Paris. "I should be off. Congratulations again."

"Thank you, Alfred," Lois smiled back. "And when you see Bruce, tell him thank you for this; we appreciate it."

"I shall do so Ms. Lane," Alfred turned to go, "Or should I say, Mrs. Kent…."

And with that, he walked away, a grinning Lois in his wake.

"Well that's an interesting development…" Clark looked at Lois with a furrowed brow. "Chloe and Bruce…..I didn't see THAT coming."

"I did," Lois crossed her arms and her grin (if it were possible) grew larger as she ran over Alfred's last words in her head.

"So I'm going to assume from the grin on your face that you're okay with Paris then?"

"It's not just that,' Lois shrugged, the grin still affixed to her face, "That's the first time I've been called Mrs. Kent in a conversation setting since we got married this morning."

Clark drew her back into his arms as the elevator beside them let out a 'ding' and opened, "Well, Mrs. Kent," he lifted Lois into his arms. "What do you say we skip taking the jet and take the shortcut instead?"

Lois kissed him gently, "Just like old times, huh?"

"Yeah," he murmured, stepping into the elevator and pressing the button for the top floor. They could take off from the roof and be in Paris in 20 minutes.

The door to the elevator closed and they started up.

"Think she knows about his little obsession?" Lois chuckled softly after a moment.

"Obsession?" Clark raised an eyebrow.

"The Batman thing," Lois let her head fall down to his shoulder and dropped a light kiss onto his neck.

Clark closed his eyes and reminded himself that they would be in Paris in 20 minutes and trying desperately to keep a hold of his senses as Lois assaulted his neck, "No. I'm almost positive she doesn't."

She nodded into his shoulder, "It's funny," she continued after a moment, her free hand tracing patterns on Clark's chest. "Didn't the fortune teller say that Chloe would meet and marry her husband in two years?"

"It's been two and a half years," Clark adjusted her in his arms as they moved out of the elevator and down the hall towards the rooftop access point. "Putting a lot of faith in that fortune-teller's predictions now, aren't you Lois?"

Lois smiled mischievously and kissed Clark gently on the nose before dropping another kiss on his mouth. Her hand came up to rest on his cheek lovingly as he opened the door to the roof and stepped out, "She got us right, didn't she? I'd say that's reason enough to believe her."

Clark kissed her back and pulled her closer to him.

"Yeah," he began to float, love for the woman in his arms coursing through his body and making flight easier than it normally was. He kissed her deeply. "It certainly is."

Lois held on tighter as they moved higher into the air, bracing herself for the familiar torrent of air and speed. "Remind me to call Chloe tomorrow morning though. We'll need details…."

**The End**


End file.
